Jacek Yerka, A Brief History of Civilization, 2019

92 x 81cm - acrylic, canvas

Signature p.d.: YERKA 19
On the reverse on the loom: JACEK YERKA | >>SHORT HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION<< | ACRYLIC 2019.


In the beginning there was a cave, a grotto, a cavern. Dry and safe. Spacious enough for the shelter of the entire tribe. Of course, after the previous occupants - usually Neanderthals - were chased out of it.
Once mankind had crawled all over the Earth and taken perpetual possession of it, caves became scarce and one had to create them oneself from what was at hand; huts made from the tusks of mammoth and other trumpet-like creatures were popular, so they were laboriously plucked on most continents.
Silt, mosses, trees, pieces of rock and clay were also useful. The latter, after firing, coped quite well with rain and frost, so it was mostly relied on for further growth and development. Stone was also fine, but a bit cumbersome to work with, and without an army of fast-finishing slaves little could be done.
Ages passed and styles changed; still stone and brick. But then came the 19th century, the era of iron and concrete. It was now possible to sprawl upwards and across, without solid support. There were more and more people, the tenements got uglier and uglier, the windows got bigger and bigger in the endless gloomy government buildings and smoky factories. The 20th century came, totalitarianism, skyscrapers, steel and glass, cities growing huge, poisoning the soil and atmosphere: boils on the surface of our poor planet.
Here I stopped, my imagination didn't suggest any sympathetic solutions, I guess I just don't want to know what will happen next.
Jacek Yerka

♣ Droit de suite: ♣ An additional fee will be added to the Purchase Price based on the right of the creator and his heirs to receive remuneration in accordance with the Law of February 4, 1994 - on Copyright and Related Rights (droit de suite).

Jacek Yerka (Torun 1952, lives near Torun) graduated in 1976 from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun.

He specialized in graphic arts. During his studies, he took part in many competitions devoted to poster art, including those celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Polish Hunting Association (1st prize), the so-called Rebirth Festival (1st prize), the Toronto Olympics, the 50th anniversary of LOT, or advertising "Społem".
Shortly after receiving his diploma, he won third prize at the Polish Poster Biennale in Katowice (1979). At that time he also made his mark on the international scene. In 1978 he won a competition under the theme "Palestine- homeland denied" organized by the Iraqi Cultural Center in London, and a year later for a poster promoting the development of public transportation in Milan.
His works were exhibited at the International Sports Biennale in Barcelona (1980, 3rd prize), the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw (1981, 3rd prize) and the Poster Biennale in Lahti (1983, 3rd prize). In the early period of his career, the artist rarely created paintings, including for the Jan Spychalski painting competition in Poznan (twice, 3rd prize). After 1980, he abandoned poster art and devoted himself entirely to painting. Relying on a precise pictorial technique based on the old masters (Jan van Eyck, Hieronymus Bosch), but above all on his own boundless imagination, he creates surreal compositions, especially admired by lovers of fantasy in all varieties. Among other things, he inspired fantasy author Harlan Ellison to write 30 short stories, which, along with the artist's paintings, made up the publication titled "The Mind Fields. "Mind Fields," which won the 1995 World Fantasy Award. The success of the album led to an exhibition at Morpheus Gallery in Beverly Hills in 1998. The same publishing house - "Morpheus International" - released the album "The Fantastic Art of Jacek Yerka." The artist also collaborated in the production of the American film "Strawberry Fields", where the paintings were to be accompanied by Beatles music. The works of the artist - a respected representative of the fantastic trend - are in many Polish and foreign private collections. Jacek Yerka's exhibitions took place abroad (including at Hela Nebelung Galerie in Düsseldorf in 1983) and at home - at OdNowa Gallery in Poznań (1975), Grażyna Hase Gallery in Warsaw (1980, 1982), Alicja and Bożena Wahl Art Gallery (1990), Hotel Filmar in Toruń (2016), DA Agra-Art (2022).
Jacek Yerka, Artistic life
My artistic life began in the second year of my studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Toruń. Completely unexpectedly (for myself, my colleagues and the group of teachers), I won a poster competition for the 50th anniversary of the Polish Hunting Association. I got the first prize of 450 zlotys, for which I bought a large Bosch album in the KMPiK bookstore and an even larger one with Dürer prints.
In the third year of my studies I took part in a poster competition on the occasion of the so-called Rebirth Festival, which I again unexpectedly won. Here the prize was already more serious, and General Jerzy Ziętek in Katowice personally congratulated me on my success. I was slowly starting to turn into a bounty hunter. I took part in all possible poster contests; on the occasion of St. May 1, July 22, advertising "Społem"(they paid the best and printed my very realistic and difficult-to-print designs decently), for the Olympic Games in Toronto, for the 50th anniversary of LOT, on the occasion of the knight's tournament at Golub Castle (here the organizer promised me to win and kept his word - it seems I was the only participant in this memorable contest) and many others, which I no longer remember exactly.
In order not to get into a rut, I also took part in Jan Spychalski painting contests organized in Poznan; I got 3rd prize there twice in the late 1970s. In 1978 I won a contest organized by the Iraqi Cultural Center in London under the theme "Palestine- homeland denied". I got £1,500 (£1 was $3.5 each), a pleasant tour of Iraq, and a handshake from Tariq Aziz (supposed to be Saddam Hussein, but he was just doing purges in the Ba'ath party).
I also won 3rd prize at the Polish Poster Biennale in Katowice in 1979, and in 1980 I got 3rd prize at the International Sports Biennale in Barcelona. Also in 1980 I won a competition in Milan for a poster promoting the development of public transportation - a cosmically high , in those days, prize I received in person, driving a small Fiat with a broken head gasket, ever slower through the Alps. I also won third prize at the International Poster Biennale in Warsaw in 1981 and at the Lahti Poster Biennale in 1983.
That was the end of my adventure with posters, painting drew me in completely. In 1995, my Mind Fields, published in the US by James Cowan, in collaboration with Harlan Ellison, received the World Fantasy Award. It resulted in an exhibition in Los Angeles in 1998 at Beverly Hills Gallery. In 2011(?), NVIDIA held a worldwide competition for computer graphics inspired by my paintings. I liked the winning work so much that I made "The Third Day of Creation" inspired by it. The history of my solo exhibitions is short and is due to the specific nature of my work. Paintings are time-consuming and most find buyers before the idea of the next exhibition materializes.
But a few have succeeded:
To Jan Malik in 1975 at the Od Nowa Gallery in Poznań - 6 large paintings, my entire oeuvre at the time, I carried in the corridor of a train to Poznań, all the time making sure that the squeezing passengers did not dent them; but at the opening I had a great conversation with prof. Tadeusz Brzozowski, who strengthened my conviction to paint in my own way and not to look at anyone; Grażyna Hase in 1980 and 1982, at her atmospheric gallery on Marszalkowska Street in Warsaw; Hella Nebelung in 1983 at Hella Nebelung Gallery in Düsseldorf; Alicja Wahl in 1990 at the author's gallery in Zoliborz; James Cowan in 1998 at Beverly Hills Gallery in Los Angeles; Wiesi Zyla in the foyer of the "Filmar" hotel in Torun (gicleè only) in 2016; Konrad Szukalski in 2012 at the gallery of the Agraart Auction House.I can't forget the brass Catherine in the Torun Hall of Fame gallery in front of the Artus Court, where in 2008 I spoke on a summer evening to the gathered crowd. I paint all the time and try to face new ideas or dust off old ones that I once failed to realize due to workshop or mental deficiencies.