Paweł Sobczak

Close enough series
HIDDEN Bořivojova
4. 1. / 6. 3. 2023

Paweł Sobczak was born in 1997 in Mikołów (Poland). He was an art student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. Currently Master of Arts. His works have been exhibited in Poland and abroad (Spain, the United States, Japan).

P. Sobczak's art seems to be a form of self-therapy, an attempt to face a difficult past and childhood. The main theme of his work is homme fatale - a rare motif depicting a fatal man. It is present in his self-portraits, male nudes, portraits of people from the circle of the artist, and in fictional characters. These representations are accompanied by a variety of symbolism. In turn, the emotional charge emanating from the paintings is built with the help of intense and expressive colors "infected" by dark tones of dripping paint - this evokes feelings similar to those when looking at a beautiful fruit eaten by rot.

The content and style of Sobczak's paintings may evoke ambivalent emotions in the viewer - on one hand, lust, attraction and obsession (appropriate to the energy of life), and on the other, feelings of passing, melancholy or corruption (attributed to the sphere of death).

We asked Pawel what his life has been like at the academy.

If I were to do a documentary about my stay at the Academy of Arts in Katowice, it would be a mixture of all movie genres.
The first shots are an adventure movie - the joy of being among people like me. Unexpected adventures and discovering the unknown. Then the plot develops into a romance, full of passion and unadulterated love. Like in any romance, there's drama. I once heard that artists shouldn't get involved with each other, and that's the case.
History leads to the church. Night painting of frescoes, cheap wine and lots of laughter turned into comedy.
From comedy, the road to horror was shorter than you might think. The first examination session. Full of fear, but ended with a happy ending. The end of the movie is a documentary about real life. Resembled of war novel, in which the main characters - artists, enter the war path. The murder weapon is jealousy. Unfortunately, I was one of them.
Painting is a very intimate process for me. I decide which stage of my work I will make available to the world.
In my second year of academy, I stopped attending this place regularly.
I had a great professor Kazimierz Cieślik, who allowed me to come only for corrections. The nights consumed all my work. I painted in an attic apartment, the size of a camper van. During the day I used to make a living on art by teaching kids how to draw.
It took up all my time, because of it there is the lack of pictures and documentation from that period. The academy was a small addition to my goal of becoming an artist.
All in all, the academy has taught me a real lesson: The lesson of life. Nonetheless, of art too. After all, isn't art life and life art?