Interview: Jaremi Picz
Luca Curci talks with Jaremi Picz during CANVAS INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2022, at ITSLIQUID ART SPACE – Venice Grand Canal.

My adventure with art began with the first individual exhibition in 1973 as a part of the national competition of knowledge about art. Throughout the years I have been a participant and organizer of many plein-airs, exhibitions and artistic events. I am a creator of a small open-air field gallery, as part of which I organized many open-air shows. I also have been awarded the Order of Merit for Polish Culture by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and now my paintings are present in galleries and are also put up for sale by auction houses. With my works, I want to encourage creation and discovery. These values are built upon the event-form 1997 when during the Great Flood, all the works I had made up to that time were destroyed. This resulted in the cessation of all my artistic work for over six years. After this time, I rediscovered my artistic approach. Currently, I continue the artistic craft with passion, and I thrive to present my ideas which in recent years fit into the discovery trend. The paintings have “another face” as I often use fluorescent effects in my works that shows newly discovered elements when seen under ultraviolet light.

Luca Curci – What are your thoughts while you paint? Do you have any habits or rituals while you work?
Jaremi Picz – When I paint, I usually think about the aim I want to achieve. It is a continuous process and somehow a journey into the unknown. It is an often-appearing phenomenon that the end effect is different from what I had planned before starting the painting. During the process, some different solutions appear to be better than the primary ones. I sometimes reach the point when I need to break the discipline and stop thinking. Then I just act – I add strong lines and colours, so my painting has some tension that attracts the viewer. So, I think about my goal but from a ”now” perspective with constant development. Therefore, the effect is impossible to be predicted because I follow my intuition. Regarding my habits, I have one, which is very simple – I listen to music from vinyl records. But usually, my level of concentration is so high that I remember only the first and the last song (it is usually Deep Purple) because when I work, I am in some sort of trans. From the habits applied directly to paintings, I either start creating the painting from its very centre or from the outer to the inner parts. And I use to take a look at the painting from afar to get more ideas, confront my previous plans with reality and possibly change/adjust them to the current colours. Then I apply my final touches with UV paints.

LC – Which subject are you working on?
JP – For a few years, my main subject has been the Epicentre series presented in various forms. However, I do a lot of impressions, on which I start working on the margin. They tend to be completely different from my main subject. Sometimes a trip to the city, an encounter of a person or a photo is a stimulus to find solutions to some, previously, unresolved artistic problems. I also derive many ideas from journeys, exhibitions, conversations with other people, and artists. Generally, It is very important to see others’ points of view. The creation process is almost always based on something. It is in a way a continuation of some solutions which were found in the past, which allows an artist to find other ways, other answers and show different perspectives. I also create digital animation with the use of my paintings. Their colours then constantly change, which catches the viewers’ eyes.

LC – How do you choose your subjects? Is it a reasoned or an instinctive process?
JP – At the beginning of my painting journey, I painted from nature or still life by creating it in my own way. However, now I make a plan/conception of a painting when it comes to ideas and colours and follow the conception. So, now I do the opposite of how it was in the beginning. There is some conception/aim first, and I head to achieve it on the canvas.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your medium of expression?
JP – To both questions, I can say “yes”. In the Epicentre cycle, I refer to macro and microcosmos. In terms of the micro perspective, I can use as an example a pupil of a human eye. It is an epicentre, which allows us to connect all the impulses from the outer world in a single place. This creates the world of our personal experience, which is further filtered and forwarded by this relatively little epicentre. In the mean of microcosmos – the planets and stars have circle forms and they distribute their forces inwards and outwards which results in a huge release of energy. It always interests me what is the cause of this phenomenon. I find this cause as the epicentre. Moreover, to the title of the paintings, it is always added the word “quantum” or “quantinum” means “the energy of the light”. I very often use UV paints to express the complexity of nature – that it always has another face – seen only from a certain perspective.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
JP – It is very often a feeling of satisfaction that I have completed another stage of my work. But when I use a new colour or solution I am usually not convinced about my painting. It is important to sometimes break habits, i.e. favourite colours. It requires courage to take the risk to test new colours or solutions. It is a journey into the unknown. Only in the end can one see if it makes any sense or not. Most frequently, I need to get accustomed to such work, it takes days, or sometimes weeks. I try not to repaint the painting immediately. Instead, I put it aside for a few days to get used to it. Surprisingly, it works out that there are some solutions that can be applied to match the previously created form and I end up feeling positive emotions towards it.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this exhibition? How did it inspire you?
JP – An exhibition is always, in a way, a confrontation with reality (especially if it is a group exhibition). It motivates and triggers to work. One can confront the realisations and ideas of other artists. It is also a chance to observe the reactions of the people to my works. The exhibition provided me with some new ideas which I can incorporate into my works.

LC – What is the message linked to the artwork you have shown in this event?
JP – I depicted in the painting the epicentre with a huge release of energy. It is not an easy task to create a new centre as it requires some ideas, concepts and thoughts. It also often makes me find a new method of painting. In this cycle, I take inspiration from Malevich or Kandinsky. The form and colour of the painting are very important to me. As an inspiration, I also used a way of creating a painting typical of Pollock. I follow Pollock’s directed, but at the same haphazard, painting style as you never know exactly how the lines or colours will work together on the canvas. When I paint myself, I have always been curious about how to connect complete constructivism with tachism. Regarding the sculpture: In its basic idea, the work consisted of two parts – of the painting in a similar colouristic as the sculpture and the sculpture itself. Its title – “Exit” was supposed to mean an exit of the colour from a painting. The intention of this installation was to allow the viewer to interact in the creating process by setting its position against the painting. Because the form of the sculpture is abstractive the colours can freeze in the three-dimensional form. Even by moving the painting and sculpture from different angles, it was still possible to get an effect of the frozen colour going out from the painting. Nevertheless, it does not exclude the possibility to exhibit these two works separately.

LC – Did you enjoy cooperating with us?
JP – Yes! It was an interesting and professionally prepared event. I can recommend the cooperation with you to everyone. I hope to get invited for your future events!

LC – What do you think about ITSLIQUID Platform?
JP – I am very happy that such a platform exists. This type of platform is inseparable from the world of art. It connects people, encourages self-development, provides resourceful information, and creates a space for art. And this is important for everyone because what the world would be without art?

LC – What do you think about the organization of our event?
JP – The contact with the Project Manager – Giulia Tassi, was very fast, direct and helpful. This kind of professional approach is very important and effortless for an artist. Also, when I arrived in Venice, I got a lot of help from you that required high organizational skills and I am grateful for that. It is easy to notice that you have a big experience in organizing events! From this place, I wanted to thank you once again for the productive and fruitful cooperation.