This year, we are inviting our audience for

A Stroll Through the 15 Years of APFF Posters

Enjoy beautiful posters by some of the most distinguished Polish artists and a collection of the winning entries from the poster contests we ran to promote students’ work.

DISTINGUISHED POLISH POSTER ARTISTS

LESZEK ŻEBROWSKI

Leszek considers himself to be the last Romantic of the Polish drawing. He is a versatile artist: painter, poster designer, theater set designer, book illustrator, and cartoonist. He created over 500 posters, mainly related to cultural and social events and issues. His posters, often portrait or mask-like creations, aim at bringing out the psychological depth of the subject. Besides computer-generated posters, Leszek uses traditional drawing techniques, mostly pastels on colored stock, in format identical to posters. He developed his own technique of drawing directly on the offset plate and using light. He has received over 30 awards, including prestigious awards at poster biennials in Warsaw, Moscow, Mons, Tehran, Charkov, Tulza, and Rzeszów. Żebrowski lives and works in Szczecin, Poland where he is full professor of graphic arts at the Academy of Art in Szczecin.

Żebrowski’s designs promoted five of the APFF festivals, and three Polish poster exhibits. He visited Austin twice, giving workshops for UT students and general public. He was also a designer for the SXSW bag and displayed his work during the SXSW Flatstock 24.


POSTERS PROMOTING THE AUSTIN POLISH FILM FESTIVALS

APFF 2009 by Leszek Zebrowski

APFF 2006 by Leszek Zebrowski

APFF 2007 BY Leszek ZEBROWSKI

APFF 2015 by Leszek Zebrowski

APFF 2019 by Leszek Zebrowski

POSTERS PROMOTING THE APFF EXHIBITS

RAFAŁ OLBIŃSKI

Rafał Olbiński, a poster designer, illustrator, and painter describes his approach to painting and illustrating as "poetic surrealism". His posters and illustrations have been regularly shown in prestigious magazines such as the New York Times, New Yorker, Newsweek, Atlantic Monthly, and Time. Besides producing work for periodicals, Olbiński has created many posters for opera, live theater, music and film festivals, as well as posters devoted to urgent social and political issues, such as war or immigration. His works are featured in the greatest collections of contemporary art.

The artist has garnered more than 150 awards for his work around the world, including the International Oscar for the World’s Most Memorable Poster, Prix Savignac 1994 in Paris.
Olbiński designed the APFF 2011 poster. He had a solo exhibit and conducted a hands-on presentation during the festival.

RYSZARD KAJA

From http://www.ryszardkaja.pl

APFF 2018 BY RYSZARD KAJA

Acknowledged as one of the most influential Polish artists of recent times, Ryszard Kaja was a graphic designer, opera, ballet, and theater stage set designer, and for almost the last 20 years of his life – a prolific poster designer. Kaja received numerous prestigous awards for his work and is touted as one of the outstanding talents of his generation. His famous 120 poster series titled „Poland” (a part of it was exhibited at the Blanton Museum in Austin during the 2018 APFF) depicts the beautiful, bizarre, and mundane aspects of his homeland with wit and extraordinary insightfullness.

This is what he said: “Nowadays, patriotism is visible in the form of loud and aggressive slogans: eagles on black T-shirts and fluttering flags. To counterbalance this, I decided to paint oilcloths, pickled cucumbers, meadows, farms, fountains, housing estates and unappreciated scenes of modernity.”

Ryszard Kaja planned to visit Austin during the 2018 APFF and his exhibit here. The illness to which he eventually succumbed prevented his visit. We will be always grateful for having the opportunity to present his incredible art to the Austin audience.

ANDRZEJ PĄGOWSKI

Andrzej Pągowski designed the 2020 APFF poster.

One of the most celebrated Polish graphic designers, author of numerous book illustrations, drawings for magazines, murals, artwork for CD covers, booklets, TV and theatre stage designs, and over 1500 posters.  For several years he has been practicing painting in the technique of printing on canvas. At the same time, he creates custom-made portraits. His works was presented at numerous individual exhibitions in Poland and abroad. In 1989 he established his own advertising company KreacjaPro. His posters are part of the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco as well as in the Pompidou Centre collections in Paris. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has included his “Wolf's Smile” in their permanent collection among the 100 best posters in the world.

WINNERS OF THE APFF STUDENT POSTER CONTESTS

Agnieszka ZiEmiszewska, Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts

KATARZYNA NYCZKA , Academy of Fine Arts in Szczecin

Jakub Magda, Academy of Arts IN SZCZECIN

Małgorzata Jędrzejec, Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow

SZYMON WAJNER, University of Silesia in Cieszyn

 

LOCAL AUSTIN DESIGNERS

Sissy Emmons Hobizal, University of Texas at Austin

RAQUEL SALAZAR-FOSTER, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN