Unexpected and sudden change and health global earthquake – pandemia – forced all of us to stop, slow down, take a closer look to our unhealthy habits towards ourselves and the earth, our relations with others and many more aspects of our existence. Many of us had to resign from the lifes we had before, either professionally or privately. Some of us had to say goodbye to the loved ones, keeping the trauma in the hearts for the rest of lifes. Others had to fight during sickness and after as well. As always there are many sides of the tragic times, one of them is definitely an upcoming sooner or later restarting process.

Everybody has a different and personal way of dealing with challenges – some will indulge into themselves, some will need guideance, some need silence and intimacy, others need groups to embrace problems. Personally I do need peace, silence and good energy to create, grow and move forward. And most importantly good health. After spectacular 2018, filled with succesful curation and managament of the art gallery, exhibition of my paintings from Organique series, travels, 2019 was a challenging year for my family due to sicknesses of both of my parents and passing of my father at the end of November. Right from the beginning 2020 was a challenging year for my health (resonating 2 difficult and stressful years) due to a massive neck spine injury, which I worked intensively on with an excellent physioterapist from July till April 2021.

Focusing on recovery was absorbing my mind half in half with the fears and daily new routines in the pandemic times. As soon as I could work and sit normally at the computer, I started to work on my website, a missing puzzle in my presentation tools on top of social media. It was a good way to get back on track and organize my art portfolio and cv and one more time wrap up and summarize my creative journey. It gave me a reason to remind myself how it all started with art and creation, where – apart from my childhood inspirations, music and nature, which I will indulge into another time – when and who was a significant, personal inspiration for me to become an artist, or to rather discover artistic abilities and decide to take this not so easy and not so obvious path to take the challene of becoming a professional artist, finishing Academy of Fine Arts.

No doubt KRZYSZTOF JUNG – an extremely talented, gifted, fragile, ahead of time and creative on many fields Polish painter, graphic artist, performer and teacher was a Person who had a huge influence on my decisions to redirect from music (piano), which was present in my life from the age of 5 for 16 years into the fine arts without any hesitation. He was an extraordinary art teacher and educator of my class at high school – Private Secondary School No. XIV in Warsaw, Poland and this is where my eyes opened wider into the fine arts. We were lucky to participate in the art classes with Krzyś Jung, where we learned about colors, shapes and shadows, greenery, poetry, art, music but we also witnessed his creative soul, poetic performances with famous threads that he surprised even our parents at the parental meetings, see his drawings, paintings and art studio at home or in his famous cottage ,,Jungówka’’. In his art he was mainly interested in landscapes, trees, painting with saturated, symbolic colors, drawings with vibrating and sensitive lines. In 1988 he published pencil portraits of prominent writers including Józef Czapski, who he met in Paris in 1983, Joseph Brodsky, Zbigniew Herbert, Czesław Miłosz and others for the literary journal Zeszyty Literackie newly created in Paris.

Unfortunately Krzysztof Jung passed away suddenly from asthma (asthma paroxysm) 5th of October 1998, being only 47 years old…leaving unfinished paintings, drawings, projects, students and most importantly those who loved him. Most likely the stress caused by his father’s sickness was the reason of the fatal deterioration of Krzyś health. His father got very sick at the end of September and died a couple of days after his son gave away his last breath on earth.* How I understand now what Krzysztof’s heart was going through…facing my own father’s sickness and dramatic passing in 2019 and collapsing with my own health for more than a year.

The pencil drawing of onions attached to this text is one of my favorite drawings that I made under Krzyś eye as his student in 1991. This drawing was also a proof for him to talk to my mother and advise her to support me in the process of preparations to apply into Academy of Fine Arts. It finally happened in 1996, when after a long process of preparations (which included leaving music behind for good) and hard work I passed exams and became a student of Graphic Department of Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 2001 I graduated – MFA with honours in Graphic Design & Poster, at Mieczysław Wasilewski class, presenting a cycle of theatrical posters of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz dramas and as an Drawing Anex, the cycle of black, grey and white drawings of landscapes, which was my small commemoration of my first mentor’s drawings, sensitive and dynamic line, soul and love to nature.

Krzyś, you are trully missed in the world – passing time did not change that feeling at all… An excellent source of the informations and all details about Krzysztof’s art paths, his paintings, drawings, photos from performances and life can be find here -> www.krzysztofjung.com, including precious written memories of his beloved friends. In 2016 in Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw presented his exhibition ,,Metamorphosis’’. In 2017 the exhibition: Trees and faces was presented at Bibliothèque Polonaise in Paris. In 2019 his Zeichnungen | Drawings were presented in Schwules Museum in Berlin.

* source: www.krzysztofjung.com