Tomasz Vetulani Quotes

I have a need to create works that are not just shocking, or say: striking, smashing – but also such works that can become companions of my various life events, and become companions of other people in their situations. These are the works that I create from the deep need to communicate with my sense and my ideal of beauty.

I often use old photographs in paintings and collages. During some historical periods photographs have taken on the function of a signature or trademark. Throughout my childhood my 'forefathers and foremothers looked out from a photographic heaven' with a very real and often threatening presence. In fact, often in the works where I incorporate old photographs the works become personal 'maps of conscience'.

I began drawing when I was one and a half years old. I never stopped.

I am fascinated by the fear of terrorism in Poland, when people die on the roads every day – and every year there are thousands of people who lose their lives in a very stupid way.

I am absolutely for the possibility of a happy relationship between adult people, regardless of their gender, and I think that they cannot be denied the right to live worthily. I am also in favor of equal treatment of married couples and couples living in concubinage. I did not marry myself. In Poland, the wedding is considered to be a sanctity, while in fact it has primarily legal consequences: it guarantees the right to inheritance, to adoption, to the visit in a hospital in the most dramatic moments. The husband who is an alcohol addict and abuses his wife can accompany her to the hospital in an ambulance, while the cohabitant cannot accompany a loved and loving partner. In the Netherlands, spouses and cohabitants have similar rights.

Art is just like the languages that people use: each one opens up different possibilities, different layers of sensitivity and expression.