Witold Popiel is seeking new resources for things. Paintings full of signs and symbols have been originating in his atelier for 25 years. The artist uses them to illustrate the world and harmonise himself with gods, people and animals. He creates metaphysical oil paintings and pastels, which according to his own words take the special place in his work. He organises his work on paintings to grasp the space and cast a spell on it. He uses different techniques to enter and join mythical world. He makes choices to equip heroes from his paintings with essential accessories and create his own safe refuge – inside himself. He gives his voice to the landscapes, portraits and acts that have charm and can touch your heart.
When in the mid-eighties of the last century Witold Popiel took interest in a bit démodé graphic art and brought into being his first lithographs, he felt perfectly comfortable. With astonishing easiness used this hard, demanding and time-consuming method which seemed to be meant for him. In his atelier appeared first works with mythological and fantastic landscapes and heroes in mysterious scenes. Events from dreams and strange elements typical for his paintings found their new significance in lithographs. Created in negative, unusual for this technique, they enrich our knowledge about the paintings.
In the same time his works were displayed on exhibitions in many countries. His paintings were enthusiastically accepted on the exhibition of Polish art in Athens. Witold Popiel had also many exhibitions individually and with other artists in countries like Germany and Japan, where his works were accompanied by works of professors from the Academy of Arts. Then followed exhibitions in Warsaw and other Polish cities. But only in Saint Petersburg people stood in long queues to see his works. Maybe this is why Witold Popiel reserves a special sympathy for Russian audience and says that Russia is one of the last places where people truly love art and probably know it like nobody else. And in return, his great interest in Russian art, especially literature, led him several times to this country with lectures and seminars, mostly on new graphic techniques and methods of computer processing.
His paintings can be seen all round the world and are in value. Exhibitions should give satisfaction. Several hundred paintings found their place in museums and went to many private collections. But Witold Popiel doesn’t seem to think about so called career. He always says that his life is based on the duty of everyday work by the easel and all activities he takes while painting are simple rituals of a humble, not a pride man. Indeed, maybe no one should overestimate his participation in the act of creation. The process of creation is difficult for the creator who is lonely in his work but he shouldn’t complicate his work too much, if he wants to reach the truth. Maybe it’s better to follow the intuition and submit to some ‘higher energy’, which may lead the artist, if his will is strong enough, to the planned or desired aim. Popiel searches in many places, he seems to find something important and then he goes back. Maybe he realises that it is not time yet to enter the unknown. To come back to the origins feels safe and maybe on this way he improves himself as a human, not artist only. Time will prove if his paintings will be still interesting after several decades. For the time being, his works are reproduced on the covers of music CDs, posters and books – to mention only Polish publisher Czytelnik. But Witold Popiel is not content with painting only. Apart from lectures and TV programmes, he is an author of articles about jazz – his big passion, painting, pattern and interior designing. His writings were also rewarded with prize of Polish monthly Literatura. His projects include scenography and costumes for ballet and garden designs. The latter challenge he accepted a few years ago, when he left Warsaw behind and settled down in the country. He needed to organise his small grounds (a few acres), which wasn’t easy. Life far from agglomeration and its scenery and everyday coexistence with nature and clear horizon gave impulse for new paintings. Many of them are covered with leaves, flowers and silhouettes in harmony with the nature. Now the author attempts to clear the world of his paintings from unimportant, according to him, elements.
Witold Popiel always seemed to paint the same fantastic scenery, but now it’s more realistic. Not long ago there were elements and objects with geometry transformed by a dream or cosmic action. Now, as artist says, he’s more inspired by the theatre, meant not only literally. Light, this mysterious factor, and illusion created in confined space with simple, symbolic scenography and characters is like a piece of reality closed in intimate, theatrical world. Popiel prefers a piece of a landscape as a part of the scenery in the theatre rather than as an integral painting for exhibition. In his works appear silhouettes of actresses, more and more transparent, bright and distant. Playing their roles or just pretending. Women like porcelain dolls in undefined, calm gestures, wardresses of a secret. And, like on pastel ‘Maria Callas in Norma’, author doesn’t even try to recall the aria. He leaves us with a clear picture, without unnecessary context. We can listen to the opera at another occasion.
Max Kluge
Witold Popiel, "The Way of the Artist", author: Max Kluge
"Paintings of Witold Popiel ", author: Jarosław Markiewicz