He was born on 18 May – the 45th birthday of John Paul II – a fact which he is very keen to mention treating it as a matter of pride and his explanation for the source of his considerable talents. His parents were repatriates from the region of Vilnius who eventually settled down in Kołobrzeg, where Marek was born and where he still lives today, these days only with his older brother. He has a strong sense of responsibility for his household and never hesitates to provide for the upkeep from his pension and painting revenues.
He says that his talent developed … underground, which most likely means that its sources are somewhat mysterious and that it remained hidden for a long time. In 1993, when the painting Crucifixion went missing from the Kołobrzeg Basilica, he suddenly decided to paint its copy. Such was his first creative attempt: he copied the painting from the photograph featured by local press reporting on the theft of the ancient work. He certainly held nothing back, the format itself was impressive – 157 by 116 cm. The work was an immediate success: it won the grand prix at the 1996 Ociepka National Painting Competition in Bydgoszcz. Currently, the painting is part of the collection at the J. Malczewski Regional Museum in Radom. The success encouraged the artist to carry on painting and many of his future works would also be copies of other pieces.
Since that time, Marek Świetlik created several hundred paintings and held a number of individual exhibitions nationwide, he also participated in several collective events. He really enjoys painting, often reworking the same theme several times as if searching for the best solution in terms of colours, compositions, textures, layouts and patterns. He models his works on photographs, postcards and reproductions, therefore many of his best paintings are in fact variations on classical pieces. One might be tempted to conclude that this attests to some shortcomings of the author’s imagination, without which no artist can hope to achieve much, but in Świetlik’s case nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, searching for inspiration in the compositions of other authors or various illustrations is hardly unheard of, even among the most recognised artists. E.g. Edward Dwurniuk first photographs a particular urban quarter and then artistically recreates the photographed images as part of his cycle of bird’s eye view cityscapes. Most of Marek Świetlik’s works presented at the exhibition were created along very similar lines. The artist asked Zofia Łoś to suggest a theme and she sent him photographs depicting various generic scenes she found inspiring.
Zbigniew Chlewiński
Marek Świetlik’s work is a 100 x 70 cm painting, oil on cardboard. It depicts two sitting figures: a woman and a man sitting, respectively, on left and right hand side of a sofa. They take up some two thirds of the entire image. The sofa is red and black. Five (5) paintings are hanging from the wall above their heads, each of some anonymous figure. The paintings are red and blue, framed with a black brush contour. The sitting woman’s hair is brown. Her eyes and mouth are red and black and enclosed in a sharp contour. Her neck is long, face white, she is wearing a green and yellow short-sleeved sweater, white striped blouse and black trousers. The man is dressed in blue trousers, black shirt with yellow stripes, the colour of his neck matches that of his face which is oval-shaped with grey hair, eyebrows and moustache. His is wearing black-rimmed glasses. The figures are holding some undefined objects in their hands which, after a moment’s consideration, turn out to be champagne glasses. The objects are red with a yellow contour. The overall impression is of a simple drawing dominated by flat colours with virtually no chiaroscuro. The work is not signed.
Marek Świetlik’s work is a fairly large painting, 100 x 70 cm, oil on cardboard, in portrait orientation. It depicts the figure of a man set against a harshly yellow background. The man is wearing a black jacket with a clearly visible brown contour which the author also used to frame various details of the garment: buttons, pockets. The man’s torso is oversized when compared to the head. A blue shirt and red tie show from under the jacket. The man’s face is done in white paint. His hair is greying golden blond, he has a moustache and gold rimmed glasses. Facial features, ears, cheekbones were added using a pencil. The overall impression is of a simple drawing with flat colours and no chiaroscuro. The author does not use perspective. The work is signed in white paint with the author’s name: “Świetlik Marek”.
