Painter - Jakub Julian Ziolkowski

Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, a polish painter, paints images of rather obscure and unsettling images; however, these images contain a bit of intrigue to the viewer through his interesting shapes and color choices. Ziolkowski is now at the age of thirty, yet critics are still referring to his work as juvenile, as if his paintings belong within a a teenagers bedroom. Although these paintings do contain a bit of strange and childish expression to them, his work appears to be impeccable, while the strokes and color scheme fits perfectly to form the right images. After viewing multiple paintings done by Ziolkowski, I began to wonder where his inspiration came from, these paintings are sometimes uneasy and discomforting for someone who did not understand the background story on each image. Therefore, understanding why he made these pieces of work in the first place was an interest that I contained. Within each of his pieces of work there seems to be a comparison between psychology along with society within the world. Many forms of his work not only contain pieces of the human body parts, but also pieces of animals and other distorted forms, these pictures tear apart human beings in a harsh way. Although he started out with smaller detailed images, his paintings later evolved into larger and gaudier images, it is clear that the earlier stages of Ziolkowski’s paintings weren’t dainty nor were they even what I would describe as attractive, but they still were not as disturbing as his later work seemed to be. The reason as to why his vision on what he’d like to express through his paintings had changed is something that I’d like to determine. Where the root of his work comes from is a passionate place and once discovering why he paints what he does, I will be able to gain a larger appreciation for his work.

A painters inspiration needs to come from somewhere and Ziolkowski began his early work while attending an art school in Poland so one might assume that his original painting style came from that. However, this art school was not where he began his famous pieces of work, it

wasn’t until he began painting on his own at home and coming up with these intricate and outside the box paintings that his work was noticed. His early work is very well put together with color and pattern, the pieces of this work are very elaborate yet petite. In one painting in particular, titled, “The Great Battle Under the Table” is all appropriate to the title, taking place under a table, the image requires the viewer to come inches away from the painting in order to see the exact details that are incorporated within this painting. Once coming close, you can see multiple people scattered all throughout the huge canvas. This 2006 painting appears as if there is a world of miniature people in chaos, nothing in this picture is in a place where it would make sense which is just the beginning of Ziolkowski’s obscure paintings. This piece of work is a rather well representation of his work during this year with the dim colors, there isn’t much color popping out of this painting aside from the specs of red all over the image. The work is random and strange but still put together and normal. The randomness of this painting is what intrigued me from the start, then after I got a chance to pick it apart, I discovered all of the never ending details that make up this painting. The title of this painting gives the audience a clue as to why the image is so chaotic. If there were to be a battle anywhere, the chances are that chaos would arise within the location of the battle. The most obvious human within this painting is a little soldier standing on a rather large chair pointing out into the center of the painting. This is the main focal point once directing ones attention to the battle scene under the table.

Ziolkowski’s alterations within his paintings to the next year is mostly that it contains less small figures and more gaudy pieces that don’t make sense to someone without a description of the painting. Within a oil on canvas painting this is untitled during the year 2007, the colors are very similar to the colors within the the first painting that I described where the browns, reds, and other earth tones take place. This piece of work is extremely chaotic which along with color is a common tie between his work during 2006 and 2007. In fact, with this painting, it is hard to determine what exactly is going on due to the deranged appearance of the pieces that make up the canvas. From my standpoint, I see the painting as being a side view of a hole in the ground with a pot at the top pouring in all of different creepy and crawly things. Half of the image is

hidden behind something that appears to be a net which causes the viewer to lose the bulk of what is within the hole. Unlike his previous painting, this one is much more contained in a smaller space which leaves the audience without being able to see passed the hole. The previous painting seems as if the battle could have been going on forever past what is seen on the canvas. The strangeness that was contained in the first painting is still apparent within this painting as well, it seems as if he has started to paint whatever he felt, as if nothing makes sense within the hole. However, the lines within this painting are beautiful, although there is a lot going on within this painting, it is still organized and placed perfectly in it’s spot, nothing in this painting is blended together, but very crisp and obvious.

As Ziolkowski paintings continue into the year 2008, there is less madness and a little more sanity which seems out of character for his style of work due to what he’s shown the previous years. The chaos still takes place but the painting is an actual picture for someone to look at and understand rather than random shapes and creatures thrown onto a canvas. His painting has now evolved into a full picture, this is of an outdoor image with a house and what appears to be a backyard filled with a canopy, fire, little pond and other details. Although there is a lot going on within this painting, there is a sense of calmness that the other paintings did not illustrate. The main color within this painting is a dark green making up the grass on that ground which fades into shades of blue that make up the sky. This image is titled “The Garden” which contains a bit of irony because a garden is an all natural thing, filled with flowers and other wildlife. This painting is full of manmade things; however, this could be a different perspective of what a garden means to the artist. The view that this painting is looked at from is above, as if you are looking in on someones home and seeing all the different aspects of their life in a little nutshell. This painting is a bit more magical than the other two because it is not disoriented or full of creepy things. This painting does in fact contain some chaos to it as well as the other two paintings did. As a painter, it looks like Ziolkowski throws everything that he is feeling and thinking into one painting regardless of whether is makes sense in the painting or not. For example, although this painting is fill os backyard things like a flower, canopy outside hanging

lanterns, there is then a piano in the middle of the painting. This piano seems to have nothing in common with the other parts of the painting, yet it is there and not hidden in a corner but right in the middle of the painting. All of his paintings seem to have a main focal point although they are all so chaotic, which is what makes the paintings to rare and interesting compared to another painter that has no special quality in it. With this painting, the fire in the center of the painting is significantly brighter than the rest of the painting, it is so realistic that it looks like it would burn through the whole “garden”.

The daintier part of Ziolkowski’s painting seemed to be expressed within the 2008, after research I discovered that this was not the only painting that wasn’t as harsh as the previous years. One of his paintings during this year contained something that I found a strange fit in his line of work. This is due to the normalcy of the photo. The painting is of a rather adorable hare hiding behind a patch of grass. The hare is huge compared to the grass around it which brings a bit of humor to the painting. However, not to let us down, there is still a bit of strangeness within this photo is the hare’s ears, while they are large like most hares are, they are also a bright shade of pink which seems to be contrasting with the rest of the dimmer colors within this picture. However, without this twist in the painting, the painting would not look like it belonged at all in Ziolkowski’s collection. The ears are the only thing that give the picture a twist and a strange change to the painting. These ears have a beautiful texture to them, they look as if they have different colors intertwined in a weave-like form. This gives the painting more depth and variety that it would not have without these interesting ears. Besides the ears, the eyes of the hare are the only other aspect that has any shape or depth to it. The hare’s fur is so taint that although it is brown, it still blends in with the background. I would expect a much louder piece of work from Ziolkowski after seeing his earlier work, yet this is still an amazing painting.

While his artwork has be very unpredictable due to it’s inconsistency in trends that Ziolkowski paints, the paintings in the year 2009 have an extremely similar form to it as in the year 2007 with the deranged and random pieces in weird positions on the canvas. The painting

that I am referring to is titled, “My friends” which is a disturbing title for a piece of work that is made up by random body parts, skeletons, and faceless heads. The trend of color that seems to take place with all of his work does, in fact, repeat itself within this painting but in an even more extreme form. This piece of work is different aspects of people in weird positions, he seems focus on woman and children in this painting, while there are multiple womanly body parts, and child-like figures both of these forms are in minimal if any clothing. Each one of these figures has a rectangular cutout in it, almost like a a television which contains other random things in it, for instance skeletons and skulls. The meaning behind what Ziolokowski had in mind in order to make these pieces is undetermined, but is work becomes consistent of dissembling body parts and making them into something that is not normal and not a common image for someone to imagine. By making an imaginary form of a person, he could create his own fantasy world even if it is upsetting to the viewer. He seems to create a negative light on the human form and dissembles the body parts for a reason that appears to be personal through the negativity in each painting.

After looking through more of his images and finding more and more uneasy paintings of destroyed humans I began to research as to why Jacob saw the world in such a negative way and why it was humans that he directed his angry energy at. Jacobs mother died in 2005 from cancer and while at her bedside Jacob decided that there was no God for taking away his mother through such a painful disease. The reason for many of his paintings began to make sense and contain a much stronger meaning after reading this fact. In an interview in W magazine, Jacob explains that when his mother was reaching the end of her life span, and had only 99% of her vision left, she wanted to go to Jacob’s studio and why there all they discussed were his details in his paintings. I found this fact particularly interesting because details are one of the few things in Jacobs work of art that is consistent. No matter how disturbing, or how strange his work is, the details are always impeccable. The color along with the detail are the common ties between each painting to the next. After discovering that Jacob saw humans only as dust and meat, the color palette seems to make more sense. The dark reds and shades of browns are a the main colors in

each painting which correlate with the colors of blood and meat. Jacobs paintings have an intriguing factor to them which is what interested me in the first place, the question for why he painted these images in the first place was a question that I felt I had to figure out. Now knowing the root behind his work, I can now gather an appreciation for what he’s done and why he paints the pictures he does. Although his paintings are disturbing and questionable, the place where he has gotten his inspiration from is a good place and comes from the most heartfelt intentions.