The conversation took place in Warsaw’s Royal Łazienki Park during the exhibition “Has na nowo” (“Has Anew”): 30 posters by Andrzej Pągowski inspired by the films of Wojciech Jerzy Has. The exhibition is part of the 29th International Poster Biennale and runs until 31 August.
First, a little about the artist. Andrzej Pągowski is a Polish artist, born in Warsaw in 1953. He is one of the most colourful figures in the world of poster art. He studied at the Poznań School of Fine Arts. He started out with satirical drawings for the magazines Szpilki, Przekrój and Radar. Since 1976 he has been creating posters for theatre, film, festivals and music.
Besides posters, he has worked in book illustration, cover design, TV idents, music videos and stage design. He was art director of the magazines Scena, Moda and Playboy. Particularly well known is his poster “Palenie jest do…” (“Smoking is…”), one of the most famous anti-smoking posters, created back in 1994. Back then, in the 1980s and 90s, posters were painted in acrylic on paper — the traditional way. Today everything has changed. The need for quick revisions and quick responses forces artists to work with computer graphics.
“Today a designer can’t work without a computer. It’s not a question of preference but of common sense. In the past, you made a poster and it was either accepted or not. Now there are heaps of marketing departments and endless revisions — redrawing from scratch every time just isn’t realistic,” says Andrzej.
Andrzej told us that he made his first computer poster back in 1986, using a primitive Paint program and black pixels.
“It was brilliant,” he laughs. “You can find the poster ‘Sen letniej nocy’ for Teatr Ochota online — that was the first computer poster, made even before Atari.”
For a long time he couldn’t get computer graphics from the screen into print — he would print black-and-white copies, then scan and process them. Only with the arrival of modern tools did the work become easier.
In recent years Andrzej has been working on an iPad:
“For me, the iPad is simply a sheet of paper. The stylus is the perfect tool. It has every brush you could want, you don’t need water for watercolours, you don’t need to sharpen a pencil. Old-school people look at it as a toy, but it’s a real working tool.”
He notes that tablet computers are a completely different matter from ordinary graphics tablets. An iPad with specialised software is a whole new level, offering enormous creative possibilities.
“I don’t like repeating myself. I’m always looking for something new. Working with lots of layers, as in Procreate, is simply brilliant. What’s happening with AI right now interests me too. Our generation views artificial intelligence with a certain scepticism, but it’s a game changer.”
He compares traditional techniques with digital ones:
“It’s like manual and automatic gearboxes. It’s important to be able to drive a manual, but an automatic is no worse. Technology makes the work easier. There are two categories of people: those who remember my work from the 1980s and 90s and don’t like computers because they think it makes things too easy. And young people, who are thrilled that complex effects can be done on an iPad.”
Today it is important for an artist not only to master the computer but also to be able to work with social media and artificial intelligence.
“Everything has to move. Animations made with AI have already appeared on my social media. When I finish a poster, I post it on Instagram straight away, but I have to prepare a square background, because the platform has its own constraints.”
Finally, Andrzej says:
“A designer today can’t get anywhere without an iPad and a computer. But even if the power went off, I could still work. Modern advertising is a challenge, though, and technology helps you meet it.”
We have only touched on this subject in passing, skimming over the question of equipment. But there is a great deal of interest here, and in closing I would just like to say that we shouldn’t give in to the limitations or stereotypes that somehow make our thinking formulaic, and we shouldn’t forget that art is not a competition but a state of mind, a mood. Nor should we complicate and cloud our enjoyment of art with debates about the level of technical execution.
Often, what stirs emotion may have been sketched in a hurry on a scrap of restaurant napkin.
Dr. Myroslav Trofymuk
Born in Lviv. Designer, director, musician, researcher, founder of ZEMLA STUDIO. Master of classical philology and digital marketing, PhD in the history of Ukrainian literature. Member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. Since 2022 he has authored the CENTRUM MUNDI audio show for Polish Radio for Ukraine, continuing the same research into the contemporary music scene in Ukraine and Poland.
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