Jacek Yerka, LEviathan SURFITS, 2021

38,5 x 46,0 cm - acrylic, canvas signature p.d.: YERKA 21

signature on the reverse on the bottom of the loom strip: JACEK YERKA | >>SURFING WHALE<< | ACRYL 2021



Humbacks, sperm whales, fin whales, orcas; they have always inspired awe and wonder. Incredibly large they have stimulated our imagination for millennia. Here was a tale and a legend clothed in a huge, slippery body.

As a child, I read Julian Tuwim's poem Mr. Maluskiewicz and the Whale, and it seemed to me that the poet went a bit overboard:

He rode around the island

By bicycle in all directions,

Three days he was on this journey

And came back very tired.

And in a moment:

- And the island? - What island again? -

It's the tip of my nose! -

This gave me some food for thought in the next few decades, and several paintings (in addition to the above) were created thanks to it. Let me remind you of Brontosaurus Civitas, Pleasures of the Dragon or Sierra telegraphica.

The monstrosity of leviathans makes me think I'm not done with them yet.

Jacek Yerka



Jacek Yerka (Toruń 1952, lives near Toruń) graduated in 1976 from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. He specialized in graphic arts. In the first years after graduation, he exhibited posters, including at the Biennale of Polish Poster in Katowice in 1977 and 1979, international biennials in Lahti and Warsaw, and others. Since 1980 he has devoted himself entirely to painting. Relying on a precise pictorial technique modeled on the old masters (Jan van Eyck, Hieronymus Bosch), but above all on his own boundless imagination, he creates surreal compositions, especially admired by lovers of fantasy in all varieties. He inspired, for example, fantasy author Harlan Ellison to write 30 short stories, which, along with Yerka's paintings, made up the publication titled. "Mind Fields." The same American publishing house "Morpheus International" published the album "The Fantastic Art of Jacek Yerka". In 1995 the artist was awarded the prestigious World Fantasy Award for best artist. He exhibits at home and abroad (in Germany, France, the USA and others), being a respected representative of the fantastic art trend. He collaborated in the production of the American film "Strawberry Fields", where the images were to be accompanied by Beatles music.