AN INTERVIEW WITH ROMAN KALARUS
Interview by Charlotte West
Translation by Artur Sikorski
Roman Kalarus is from the generation of Polish poster designers mentored by the fathers of the Polish Poster School and who has himself taught several of the younger designers currently renewing the tradition. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in 1976. He is currently a professor and head of a poster studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. His work has been shown in major graphic design and poster shows in Poland and abroad.
To what extent is the contemporary scene influenced by previous generations of Polish poster artists? Does the legacy of the Polish Poster School still live on?
The continuation is quite natural. There would be no revolutionary inventions without continuation. Even a total break with tradition involves a dialogue with it. In almost each contemporary poster, I can see intended or unintended references to predecessors.
What are the stylistic characteristics of the contemporary scene? Globalization has influenced design in all fields, as has the prevalence of the Internet. Is there still a distinct Polish style?
Design is the same in Chicago, Santiago, Berlin, Moscow, Warsaw, etc. Pearls amongst them appear in these cities for a short time and then lead a long life in galleries, museums, private collections; they are an evidence of the times in which they were designed and the sensibility of their authors.
A specific Polish style once penetrated the world of poster design. It was similar to the vogue in Japanese, Finish, German, Iranian and other styles. Numerous presentations of posters all around the world result in mixing of different styles and help to create new values.
What is the ‘essence’ of the Polish poster?
I think the essence of the Polish poster is treating a concrete order as a pretext of an intelligent dialogue with an individual spectator, not with an anonymous crowd. Hence an allusion, metaphor, jokes and varied interpretations are used for finding different associations within given topic. I mean the work of designers for whom a poster is also a work of art.
What styles and techniques do you use in your own work? How do you approach a new poster, and what should it communicate?
Besides poster design, I am occupied with woodcuts, paintings, drawing and collage. A poster educates, entertains and brings up both the author and the spectator. A good poster is like haiku. After all, the Japanese are masters of many arts. I convey my workshop experience and imagination - derived from so called 'pure art' - in applied arts. Logic, consequence, modesty and synthesis are helpful in completing free concepts.
Who were your mentors for poster design? Can you see influences of your teachers in your own work? Are any of your own students prominent among the younger Polish poster artists?
During my studies, I had wonderful teachers in painting, drawing, graphics, poster and book design, typography and so on... They had a lasting influence on me because they were still active artists, and their work was very well known to me. That gave them credibility as teachers. I also admired artists connected with the Polish Poster School, as well as some representatives of global surrealism and pop art. A direct influence on me was music – rock and roll, blues, jazz, also literature – and above all, my imagination.
In my teaching, I carefully observe the individual student’s intellectual ability and craftsmanship. My apprentices have participated in several important poster art exhibitions, both in Poland and abroad. Those who are most well known and award-winning are Sebastian Kubica, Michal Minor, Monika Starowicz, Michal Ksiazek, Piotr Kossowski, and many more. In a reference book from 2008 - Polish Posters of the 21st century - there are nine names connected to my studio.
To what extent does the Polish fine arts education system pass a strong visual tradition from one generation of designers to the next?
Currently, most of the teachers at the fine arts academies are also active artists. Students are able to choose the studio of a [particular] artist, and adapt its programme to their needs. The development of new media, which allows easy access to ready made computer programs, makes real authorship (originality of an author) vanish and exerts pressure for mainstreaming – by that I mean, if everyone works with the same software…then the expressed works, even by different artists, will bear the same mark. I observe the before mentioned even among my students, but luckily there still exist independent, thinking individuals, and it is they who make the exchange of positive energy between student and teacher.
