Surrealist Artist Jacek Yerka

Jacek Yerka is Polish surreal painter, and one of my favorite surrealist artists. His work is just out of this world, and it goes beyond any imagination. Jacek Yerka was born in 1950 in Turun, Poland. His both parents were artists, but he didn't enter artistic waters until he graduated from high school. 

For most of his childhood and high school he dreamed to study astronomy or medicine. He never tried painting until few months before his entering exam for the college. 

Luckily, after giving the art the chance, he fell in love with painting, and that was the moment when Yerka decided to study fine arts, and not astronomy nor medicine.

Unlike the painting, he spent his early life in drawing and sculpturing. He would pull himself into his own world, and draw, refusing to go outside and socialize with other kids. According to Jacek Yerka, this was the reason he was rejected in the school by his peers. He describes his school as "gray, sometimes horrifying reality".

Things changed when he entered high school. He was drawing scetches of school's most famous bullies which in some strange logic marked him as 'untouchable"

Few months before taking the entrance exam for the college, he was in between two options: studying astronomy or studying medicine. Yerka for the first time took the paint to try to paint something. I guess he realized it would be shame to have parents artists, and yet not to try "the call" himself. 

Luckily he liked what he produced using paint, and not pencil this time. Since then he was working on acrylic paintings.

After the success of his first artistic work, Jacek Yerka decides to study fine art and graphic design.  While he was on the college, he was directed by his mentors to accept the detail and realism in his work, and to leave modern techniques of artistic creation. Looking at his work today, we see he refused to do so, which is great thing for us in my opinion. 

 Jacek Yerka started working as full time painter in 1980. Since then this Polish painter created few hundreds of unbelievably complex and detailed paintings. 

He was one of many other contemporary artists (what is contemporary art?) who followed strange and misterious path of surrealism. Unlike the other surrealist painters, Jacek Yerka put a lot of his own subconscious into his work, taking only the techniques and basic ideas from other surrealists. 

The main inspiration for these lovely and impressive paintings, Yerka found in his childhood memories. Most of the paintings are inspired by his grandmother's kitchen. Other building in the pictures are taken from his memories of his grandmother's summer house. Lots of other object are the products of inspiration by fragrances, places and persons from Yerka's past.

Later, he finds the inspiration in his dreams. Examples of such inspiration are: New Age Manhattan, Metropolis, Sonnet, Strawberry tree, Cathedral, Swimming lesson. See more Jacek Yerka's Surreal Paintings.

He says that his often trips to Polish countryside resulted in few acrylic works too. We can see that in using countryside scenery in his work quite often lately. 

In 1990 he was asked by Hollywood producer Renee Daalder to participate in making his new movie about John Lennon. His idea was to join Yerka's extraordinary art with the songs of The Beatles into one science fiction movie entitled: The Strawberry Fields. This Polish painter and surrealist artist used his imagination to create monsters, machines and unreal landscapes for the movie. 

Jacek Yerka Surrealist Paintings
Check more of his work and be amazed by the details found in his art!