I will be painting as long as I have enough passion

Edward Dwurnik, born in 1943, a painter, a graphic artist, a graphic designer, a graduate of Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts, is famous not only in Poland, but also abroad. He has received many prestigious awards, including, for example, a Nouvelle Biennale de Paris in 1985, the award of the 19th Biennial of Art in Sao Paulo in 1987, and the award of the Art Contest in Seoul in 1988.
Dwurnik likes to create series of works. 'Sportsmen' and 'Workers' can be read as a gigantic portrait of the Polish reality. He has also developed a fantastic cycle depicting Polish cities entitled 'Blue Cities'. He also creates monumental paintings, for example a series entitled 'Large Paintings' which is composed of, for instance, 'The Way to the East' commemorating victims of the Stalin regime, and 'From December to June' - a tribute to victims of the martial law in Poland. Thanks to these pictures, in 1992, Dwurnik received the prestigious award of the Coutts&Co Foundation in Zurich.
The artist also frequently paints naked women, who are, in his opinion, 'either beautiful or sexual'. When asked what the difference between the two is he says that he does not know, and he adds 'but I know that beauty is asexual'. Dwurnik is a demon for work. When asked why he is so prolific he answers: 'I do not know myself. It must be a kind of phenomenon related to artists. I have painted 3,500 pictures and created over 10,000 drawings. I have spent many years painting almost everyday and I have created all these works'. When asked whether he will be painting endlessly, he replies 'I will be painting as long as I have enough passion'. Recently, Edward Dwurnik painted a picture on the wall surrounding the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising.
When I visited his atelier, it was filled with paintings presenting a bird's'eye view of Polish cities, which were blue and full of details.

- Did you fly on a plane to paint these cities?
- No, I didn't. I just used pictures taken from a plane. I collect postcards and plans of cities. I select towns with interesting architecture, with an old, frequently medieval, urban layout.
- Why are all these cities blue?
- Blue has been the most difficult color for painters since the times when they had to blend a paint so as to get an appropriate color. Mother of God in the Middle Ages and in Renaissance always wore blue clothes. The painters wanted to make it her characteristic feature. Besides, blue is a very mysterious color, and there is certain symbolism to it. And at the same time, it brings peacefulness.
- I cannot think of any painter, apart from Picasso, who painted everything in blue.
- Because there aren't any, which is good.
- Why are there no people in these paintings?
- When I painted realist pictures, they always presented specific situations, and because of this, they were always involved in politics or in some social problems. That was the case with 'Workers', 'Sportsmen' or 'The Way to the East'. At the time, I was constantly engaged with various matters, people expected something from me. They wanted me to express my political views, to join one of political parties or a particular group of people. It made me trapped. I decided to free myself and provoke with metaphysical themes. They were blue, too. Now, I paint urban landscapes without people as I am a bit tired of them.
- But art without people may stop being art, don't you think so?
- No, I don't. Art without people is cleaner. Abstract arts have always been doing very well without people. If I introduced a human being into an urban landscape, its scale would change. Then, the architecture would become a background only, a toy.
- You said once that your works are sad. Why are they sad?
- Because they depict my longing for beautiful paintings. And beauty is sad and free.
- And ugliness is happy?
- Yes. Motleys of colors are ugly and happy.
- Are you a pessimist?
- Pessimism comes with age. But I try not to be a pessimist. My art helps me in this respect.
- Thank you for the interview.