@olgawieszczyk

Instagram: @olgawieszczyk Facebook: www.facebook.com/olgawieszczykk  

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

I am from small village near Częstochowa in Poland. It's a really pretty place with beautiful medievalesque scenery. Now I am living in Kraków after studying there. The city has a unique feel to it with this kind of gooey laziness and sleepiness. It also has a romantic touch of its beautiful heavily historic surroundings. I love living here but this stagnant feeling is definitely the downside of this city, or maybe that is just me?

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

My style aesthetic is heavily influenced by manga. Manga is the thing that got me into drawing and art in the first place.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

My medium of choice is digital painting. I was making etchings while I was studying and now I’m trying to imitate this technique digitally. I like it that way because it gives me more space for error and correcting my mistakes, but sadly I must admit the final effect is less spectacular than its organic counterpart.

4. What is your artistic process like?

The process usually begins with choosing one aspect of reality and thinking about it constantly and that is often the longest part. After this time investment then suddenly the image appears in my mind and then it becomes about transferring it to the visual language and medium.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

Most of my current works were inspired by the topic of dreaming. I was researching dreaming through books, by trying guided meditation and by writing down my dreams and trying to interpret them. I’m also interested in the workings of the brain, how we manage our memories and what makes the individual self. Visually I’m taking a lot of inspiration from old photographs especially those taken in the Victorian era. Another very big inspiration for me in my art and life is my older sister @oasis_of_hate she is a really great artist.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

When I was younger drawing was everything for me, I could spend all day and night drawing constantly and reimagining the stuff I was drawing with all this hallucinatory realness only a small kid could achieve. Do you remember playing with toys ? It was almost like really living through those stories, with full realistic memories of it. Now I’m always craving to achieve this state of mind while drawing. It’s never this intense now, but I still enjoy the process. The difference in seeing the world thanks to art – I think I became more analytical, I tend to focus on the problem and try to see it from all the different angles and as a part of a bigger whole.

7. Where did you study?

I studied in the Fine Arts Academy in Kraków. It’s a school with a really long and rich history and you can feel the weight of its past there. It allowed me to try some old techniques like etching and lithography and I feel it was very important in my creative development.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years I hope to achieve independency by living on my own creative works and not on commission jobs where I am realizing someone else ideas. It would give me more time and freedom to realize my own ideas.

9. What about in ten?

In ten years.. hmm.. If I am still alive and the Earth would be still intact, I still want to be drawing and to be constantly working on improving my technique.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

Art for me is a form of nonverbal communication. Just like you can be understood or misunderstood with words it also can happen with an image. For me every person is a distant World with limited communication measures, trying to communicate with each other as good as they can and constantly finding ways of doing so. In my art I’m showing memories from my dreams, my childhood memories, atmospheres of the feelings I got living through it, my inner-world. The greatest thing for me is when someone can relate or is moved by those images I’m making. Then I know its realizing its purpose – I’m communicating with someone directly.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

I like ramen – it’s like a soup and a dish all in one. It’s fun to cook it with friends because of variety of broths and toppings – everybody gets what they like.

12. Favourite book?

My long-time favorite is original “Brother’s Grimm Fairytales”. It’s like collection of original mouth-to-mouth transferred folk fairytales. It has really eerie dreamlike atmosphere to it and tends to be very drastic and dark. When you’re a child and your mind is still very malleable and open powerful stuff like this can make a lasting impact on you. I think because I came across it so early in my life it was one of the main stimuli for me to tend to choose and draw darker themed stuff.

13. Favourite genre of music?

I don’t think I have any favorite genre, I like all kinds of music. One day I can listen to Einstürzende Neubauten or The Caretaker and next day to Dead or Alive. My music taste is synchronizing well with my constant mood swings.

14. What are your hobbies?

Like anybody: meeting up with friends, clubbing, partying, watching TV shows, movies, reading, music. I like visiting ruins and old churches, of which there are a lot in Poland. I also like to collect devotional objects, you know like those little plastic figurines of saints, my favorite are those I have which glow in the dark.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

Drag queen!!