“I will tell you of a great adventure”: Exhibition opens for Krakow painter’s fantastical, complex worlds

'Fianna' by Roch Urbaniak, inspired by warriors of Irish mythology, was featured on the 120th print edition of The Krakow Post
‘Fianna’ by Roch Urbaniak, inspired by warriors of Irish mythology, was featured on the 120th print edition of The Krakow Post

The art of Roch Urbaniak is difficult to place. Its eccentric sense of scale and geometry is evocative of medieval fresco, yet the colors and the reach of the imagination, as vibrant as any Hayao Miyazaki film, make it simultaneously nearly three-dimensional with bursting life in a way that feels very contemporary.

Skeptical? You can see it for yourself. Tonight at 19.00 an exhibition of paintings by the young, award-winning local artist will open at Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej Kersten, ul. Sławkowska 5/7, right in Krakow’s Old Town.

The theme is “Opowiem wam się udziałem wielkiej przygody”: “I will tell you of a great adventure.” The works are inspired by the artist’s journeys in the world as well as through the fantastical realms of books, films, and games – “crumbs” of these stories, as he puts it.

Roch Urbaniak was born in Krakow in 1986.  In 2011 he graduated with distinction from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, and in 2014 he won the prestigious Grand Prix at the 25th International Festival of Comics in Łódź.

'Amarok' by Roch Urbaniak will be on display at the Kersten Gallery
‘Amarok’ by Roch Urbaniak will be on display at the Kersten Gallery

Anna Starowicz contributed to the reporting of this article.

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