I have sat through more than a few arguments about who the most technically gifted painter in Poland is, and I cannot recall a single one where Cyryl's name did not come up. He painted this during a residency at The Fores Project in London, which leaves one small problem: getting it safely back to Poland. A canvas this size needs a crate so big and so heavy that one of the couriers who had to deliver it still has not forgiven me. I regret nothing all the same.
The painter
Cyryl Polaczek (born 1989) studied in Gdańsk, Berlin and Krakow and co-founded the Potencja group with Karolina Jabłońska and Tomasz Kręcicki. He paints deadpan, affectionate pictures of everyday life, friends, books and interiors, and turns up in most arguments about the best technical painter in Poland. The depth of his subject matter is rarely in doubt; what stops you first is simply how well the thing is painted.