Ania Kuczynska and Pawel Kaluzynski
Paweł Kałużyński and Ania Kuczynska
An artist and a designer reveal why Warsaw is so inspiring
Paweł Kałużyński is the epitome of artistic chaos and everything you would expect from an eccentric mad professor in the making. His two-level workshop looks as though a mini tornado has swept through it. There are paint tubes and canvases with no order or distinction everywhere. It is complete glorious anarchy.
And it’s very much where Paweł wants to be. “I was taking photos of people, then painting them. I started in the old Jewish ghetto area and you could feel the richness of culture and life seeping from every cracked wall and cobbled street. It truly is the heart and soul of old Warsaw.”
Certainly by looking at his surroundings you could be fooled into thinking that the 30 year old is your typical penniless art student lost on a highway to nowhere, but while he may be a high-school dropout, preferring to ditch his final History of Art exam, the Warsaw-born local boy has of late achieved genuine success and high-brow notoriety. Paweł’s pieces, depicting his heroes such as Mickey Mouse, Einstein and Bruce Lee, sell for thousands of euros and are found in collectors’ homes all over the world.
“I always painted as a child. From the moment I could pick up a brush I was obsessive about art and painting but I never considered that I could actually do painting as a profession.”
Not being your stereotypical street, modern artist, Paweł didn’t graffiti his way to infamy like many of his contemporaries. An ex-fashion model from a family of economists, Paweł’s break came less than one year ago when he was discovered by art collector and the owner of Warsaw’s aTak gallery, Krzysztof Musiał.
“I used to think art people hated me, but then aTak gallery gave me my own show and suddenly collectors from all over the world started to pick up on my work.
“The collectors have everything from Hockney to the 19th-century Polish artists I studied at school, so now to be even held at the same gallery is an incredible honour.”
He insists: “As an artist, I cannot separate my life and my work, so if people like what I am doing at the moment then it makes me happy and that is good enough for me.”
Ania Kuczynska is one of Poland’s most avant-garde and sought-after fashion designers. Stars such as Devon Aoki and Maria Peszek queue up to wear her designs.
After honing her skills studying in Rome and then Paris, Ania felt the pull of her homeland and returned to Poland.
“Warsaw for me is very inspiring and
