I enjoy getting dirty

Interview with Sebastian Kubica, April 28, 2023

K.M. You are a graphic designer, but you also engage in engraving, drawing, and painting. How do you combine these fields, which are commonly seen as “utilitarian” with the so-called “pure” ones? Are they two separate worlds for you?

S.K. These spheres constantly intertwine; they cannot be separated, and I do not attempt to do so. My design work reflects influences from classical workshop, and my traditional workshop work shows influences from design. This manifests, for example, in my tendency to declutter compositions, in the way I compose, in the choice of certain focal points, and in color selection. This is a significant value for me. The theme is also important to me as it determines various formal solutions.

K.M. Where did this complementary approach to art and design come from?

S.K. Roman Kalarus is to blame for everything (laughter). He was my mentor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, where I completed my diploma under his guidance. He was simultaneously involved in poster design, woodcuts, and drawing. I studied graphic design and engraving concurrently. I had professors like Marian Oslislo, who designed graphic marks, identities, and posters, and on the other hand, masters like Roman Starak and Mariusz Pałka, who worked with me in the world of graphics and relief printing: woodcuts and linocuts. At the academy, I had these two worlds: the classical: drawing, and painting, and the design. I believe this is an ideal situation for a student in an art school. Unfortunately, in today's educational system, design and fine arts are often separated. I don't think this is good because it limits designers in terms of graphic skills and graphic artists in terms of design. This makes design become very uniform.

K.M. The interplay of different genres and art fields was also characteristic of the Polish Poster School. You are an artist who draws inspiration from the heritage of the Polish school, but you are not overwhelmed by it. On the contrary, you enliven, transform, and modernize this wonderful legacy through your own creative individuality. What is your relationship with these roots?

S.K. Polish poster artists are and will remain true masters to me. What is incredibly inspiring for me is the fact that they had various professions: they created not only posters but also worked as illustrators, graphic artists, caricaturists, and made animated films. To me, this represents the wholeness of an artist who employs visual communication. Painting also serves as a visual message to me.

K.M. The term “visual message” fits very well with your artistic work. Your works aim to convey something, establish contact with the viewer, and this is also a legacy you draw from the Polish Poster School. Of course, it doesn't mean that deciphering your “visual codes” is always easy.

S.K. I hide various meanings in my works, sometimes they are obvious, and other times one needs to search for something more.

K.M. Tell me about the work Breakfast with Cerberus. What is happening here? There are many different motifs.

S.K. This work is a kind of formal joke. Cerberus, who guards the entrance to Hades, is usually associated with death, but here he sits on a chessboard that acts as a soft blanket. There are also bones... there is a bit of irony here. A skull appears, reminiscent of the Roman Caesar wearing a laurel wreath, remnants as if from a battle... On the other hand, there is a jester and a king who are swinging, referring to power and monarchy. I have a cracked egg that resembles a fortress and also alludes to the Colosseum. These are my personal associations, formal and situational jokes. On the other hand, the context of antiquity and the literature of Cervantes, Shakespeare... I combine these different worlds.

K.M. Where does your fascination with Cervantes, Shakespeare, and literary characters that you depict in your work come from?

S.K. These are inspirations that arise from reading literature. I have always been interested in the Middle Ages - castles, armor. As a child, I collected knights, not toy soldiers with rifles. My friends didn't like knights, so we could trade one soldier for two knights. I was 8 years old when I did my first piece. My parents were changing the wallpaper, and I drew a great battle with knights and horses on the wall with crayons. The first drawings I made were always about knightly battle scenes. The ethos of the hero has always been close to me, but not only the knightly one. I was also interested in mythological heroes. First, there was a fascination with Shakespeare, and then Don Quixote. Only recently have I combined these two worlds, confronting them with each other: the cruel, inevitable world of Shakespeare and the world of Cervantes, whose character falls, shakes off the dust, and continues on with a black eye, damaged body, armor, and equipment. There is no definitive end here. And there's also that madness, which can be detrimental on one hand, yet serves as a catalyst to perceive beyond the ordinary, on the other hand. Madness enables us to see further, deeper, and higher. And that going further is incredibly important. For this reason, Cervantes resonates deeply with me. In the current context of the war in Ukraine, as well as conflicts in general, the themes of uprising and resilience hold immense significance and capture my attention. In this madness, there is a hint of optimism. In my works, I show this through color. Works referencing Cervantes are more vibrant than Shakespearean ones. They are lighter in tension and commentary.

K.M. A good example of such a “lighter” approach is probably the Dancing Knights series. Where did that idea come from?

S.K. In this series, I referenced Degas and his ballerinas. I wanted to detach the motif of the knight from the conventional associations with seriousness and battles. I mean, how can you dance in armor? In this series, there is also a reference to the drawings of Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci. The motif of Adam and Eve drawn with crayons appears. For me, this series is a story about the Garden of Eden, about color and nature.

K.M. Tell us about your workshop. The process of creation, the classical techniques you employ, are very important to you.

S.K. Yes, the workshop is incredibly important to me. I try to convey that to my students. First, I think about what I want to do and in what technique. Then I draw and sketch. Sometimes it's one drawing and I hit it right away, and sometimes it takes a very long time, and that can be a real torment. I often transfer the drawing onto canvas, and during that process I may let go of certain elements or discover that my initial vision doesn’t align with what I want to achieve. Then I repaint. Linocut or woodblock doesn’t offer such possibilities. I use various techniques, I like to experiment: monotype, foil, scratching. Sometimes something looks like a linocut, but it's actually scratched on foil. Sometimes I use elements from prints that have already been made, rescale them, make underprints, repaint, redraw. I also enjoy getting dirty, I enjoy the material. In the work Breakfast with Cerberus, there is a combination of techniques. The motif of the egg or the portrait of the woman on the right side are drawn with a pen. Only the figure of Cerberus at the top is a print. Some motifs are scaled-up drawings from my sketchbook. My sketchbook is very important to me, it accompanies me all the time. I draw in it with various tools. Sometimes it serves me only as a notepad for thoughts, and other times I directly use various motifs from it. For me it resembles the finger exercises of a pianist I coordinate between my hand, mind and eye. The computer is also extremely important. You can erase, transform, rotate everything on it..., but for me, it's just one of the tools, maybe even less important than drawing. Without a computer, I couldn't design on commission. However, sometimes I undertake a project entirely by hand, as was the case with a poster that received a Bronze Medal in Japan. When I received the commission, I didn't have a computer with me, so I took a painting off the wall at my friends' place and made the design on the back of the canvas using paints and markers. The ability to use classical techniques allows me to do that. So, it's not like if the power goes out, I have nothing to do.

Interview by Katarzyna Matul