Born in Lublin in 1974, since 1994 a resident at the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Nursing Home in Lublin. Between 1994 and 2003, he participated in occupational therapy workshops “WTZ Roztocze” in Lublin, but never drew anything. Then in 2004, was employed at the art studio of his Nursing Home, which is where he currently creates his art. He was “discovered” by a graphic designer, Janusz Pajdziński, who has been his collaborator and mentor ever since.
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His drawings portray exclusively giraffes, drawn in swift, fluid contours of a black tool and filled with heavy, coarse strokes of colour. The contrast between the contour lines and the filling is such that the drawings seem to be the works of two different people of considerably different ability. Kamiński employs a wide palette of colours: dark anslight/cold and warm, all seamlessly intertwined. For instance, a drawing in B-5 format depicts giraffes in blue-green, with the entire frame of the work dominated by 3 animals in motion – as evidenced by their manes blown by the wind and snouts (muzzles) pointing in different directions. The drawing is deliberately out of proportion, stylized as a child’s depiction of animal shapes. The giraffes’ legs are spread out and crooked, their disproportionately long, heads are tiny with large, spiky ears. Their tails are tufted. The background is coloured with vigorous strokes: the expressive multi-coloured tool meandering in various directions. To date, Jarek Kamiński has painted literally thousands of giraffes. His exhibitions are often titled along the lines of e.g. “To Tame a Giraffe” or simply: Jarek Kamiński’s “Giraffes”.
