If posters had their own personalities, those designed by Andrzej Pągowski would probably end up under special care… in the locked ward. Beasts and monsters that could be conceived in the head of Doctor Frankenstein, humanoid architectural hybrids, torture tools immersed into distorted torsos… and right beside it there is a frivolous breast, a temptingly naked thigh or a penis replacing a human face. Props and body parts featuring in Pągowski’s poster art can sweep you off your feet and remain understated at the same time. His creations make proposals, inspire conjectures and peek into your unconscious, teasing and distressing at once.

The characteristic charging line puts the artist among the top most Polish of Polish poster designers. Pągowski seems to break through the frames of his works; their expression reminds of the emotions that have many a time channeled in the tragic fates of the Polish people. The body of more than 1,300 posters created by this graphic designer born in 1953 is a proof of his individualism; it unites a poet’s sensitivity with intellectual aspirations.

A graduate of the Poster Department at the State University of Fine Arts in Poznań, and student of Waldemar Świerzy, he seems to suffer from a creative hyperactivity disorder and finds his fulfillment as a versatile heir of the Polish School of Posters. In addition to a portfolio of billboards, logotypes, book illustrations, music album and magazine covers and artwork, stamp designs, satirical cartoons, theater and television set designs, Pągowski can boast taking part in educational initiatives, competitions, festivals and social awareness campaings (including the one famously illustrated with his signature “Cigarettes Suck” poster).

However, cinema has remained his primary focus: the list of authors whose films have been advertised by Pągowski’s posters tells a history of the cinema well beyond the borders of Poland. He translated the powerful visual narrative of Polish and international films into conscise symbols and metaphors to sum up the work. Filmmakers owe him a broadened meaning, extended validity date and enhanced universalism of the issues they address. Film trends, political systems or the market condition of posters may change and the splendour of awards won by the numbers all over the world may fade away, but what will remain constant is the thought-provoking quality of Pągowski’s art achieved by clever artistic shortcuts or witty or shocking associations between words and images. This makes Pągowski an advocate of the cinema, but let us put it straight: of all debtors, the cinema owes the most to him.

Gabriel Krawczyk