The landscape work of Roman Wrześkiewicz is a combination of love of nature and emotions using soft pastels. The artist captures the essence of Polish nature in his paintings in its variability and diversity.
He talks about his passion for landscape painting as follows:
“When painting a landscape, I try to transfer onto the surface of paper the feelings that are important to me at a given moment. Like each of us, I have moments of joy, delight, reflection, melancholy, sadness, and helplessness. The forms of nature are so infinitely rich that they allow me to smuggle inner experiences into the painting. The form, color, and tone of a pastel painting can lead us into specific emotional states.”
Roman Wrześkiewicz’s paintings take you to a land of ethereal landscapes, where light and shadow create an unforgettable atmosphere. His paintings are a reflection of the whole truth of his soul.
Roman Wrześkiewicz, a painter from central Poland, began his work in early childhood. His talent was revealed at the age of 5, when, after a trip with his mother to Częstochowa to Jasna Góra, he painted his first portrait of the Virgin Mary, an image from a miraculous painting. From that moment on, drawing and painting accompanied him every step of the way. Exceptional talents were also noticed by teachers.
He was educated in two fields: technical and artistic, and was active in these fields throughout his life. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (formerly PWSSP) in Łódź, majoring in painting and graphics, and majoring in computer graphics at AHE in Łódź. Thanks to this, he learned the craft of most painting techniques. The prose of life led the artist to the printing industry for many years, but the artist never stopped painting. He took up soft pastels when his family grew and this technique turned out to be the most convenient when having two small children. It quickly turned out that the pastel fully reflects the painter’s character and is similar to a drawing. It allows you to create faster than oil and acrylic, while still being a demanding and versatile technique.
The artist talks about pastels this way:
“Pastels are like pencils or crayons, giving the rhythm and melody of the lines. Spots of color strength. The texture of diversity and richness. That’s why they have become my favorite technique, allowing me to paint in a way that has both a strong and subtle impact. The specific surface of a painting painted with pastels can be captivatingly rich, and at the same time delicate and airy, barely existing on the surface of the paper. When used properly, the pastel painting layer can tell many individual stories. It incorporates the pastel ease of transferring emotions, strength, nervousness, and lightness of touch into the image. It becomes a piece of writing, it can be a rough, casual novella or a romantic poem.”
The artist focuses on landscapes and portraits painted not only with pastels. The painter’s works also include oil and acrylic paintings. His abstract paintings are also very popular. The landscapes are dynamic and atmospheric and reflect the artist’s way of looking at the world. Portraits in pencil and pastels are an extremely important chapter of Roman Wrześkiewicz’s work. He tries to show not only the models’ physical features but also their personalities.
At a mature age, with extensive professional experience and knowledge of several foreign languages, he decided to take his paintings to the outside world. With the help of his wife, within two years they organized several exhibitions and vernissages throughout Poland and abroad: in Berlin, Stockholm, and Liechtenstein, with the support of Mrs. Grażyna Kulpa and the Foundation for the Support of Culture and International Cooperation. Halina Rosa, on April 13, 2024, the opening of the exhibition of pastel paintings by Roman Wrześkiewicz took place at the Lyktan Gallery in Stockholm. In 2023, he was given the title of Ambassador of Zgierz County, where he lives and works. In order to promote the dry pastel technique and artists in Poland and around the world, he founded PASTEL ART, the Polish Association of Pastellists. At the same time, he starts educational activities. He is an erudite for whom art has always been a passion. He enjoys publishing, giving lectures, conducting painting workshops, and giving tours of art galleries. Thanks to this, his teaching talent is revealed. The lectures are always of a high substantive level. He can describe the biographies of great masters in the historical realities of a given period, link them with the lives and works of other artists, and describe the creative fabric thoroughly and professionally. Participants of painting workshops with Roman Wrześkiewicz are enchanted by the artist’s working methods. He willingly shares soft pastel painting techniques. The process of painting with this technique is preceded by an intense intellectual planning process, where each stage of creation is previously thought out. Working with children and youth and promoting young talents is an important element of his artistic activity. He helps young people organize exhibitions and vernissages in Poland and abroad, and willingly invites young artists to cooperate in planning and implementing artistic projects and in obtaining funding for them.
Roman Wrześkiewicz is not only an extraordinary painter but also an artist in many other fields of art. He is interested in photography, music, literature, and poetry, which he clearly emphasizes in his lectures. He is inspired by great painters such as van Eyck, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Cézanne, van Gogh, Axentowicz, Wyczółkowski, Witkacy, in literature Zbigniew Herbert, Joseph Conrad, in poetry Leopold Staff, in music Bach, Beethoven, Chopin.
There is a cult of art in the house. The younger son, Adam, paints with great satisfaction and shows his paintings at his father’s exhibitions. Daughter Aniela is educated musically, plays several instruments, and sings at openings. All family and artistic trips are accompanied by visits to art galleries in Poland and abroad because studying the original works of great painters is extremely important for people of art.
Roman Wrześkiewicz’s work is the truth about his inner life and always arises from his inner inspiration. The artist does not create regularly and starts working on a painting only when he feels up to it. This artist’s creative work is always well-planned, analyzed, and thought out.
The artist’s individualism is manifested in the fact that he does not try to be forcefully innovative. He is convinced that true individuality will always find its place in art.
04.05.2024 Stockholm
