A passageway to Paris: the urban landscapes of Thomas Pradzynski transport viewers to the historic streets of the City of light and beyond - Artist profile: Pradzynski - Brief Article

When you direct the eye at a Thomas Pradzynski painting--images of passageways and doorways and pieces of Paris for a like reason familiar yet so unique at the same time--you may find yourself imagining what's around the corner from the patisserie, what's beyond the gilded gates he's in the way that meticulously re-created or what a someone may have been thinking as he or she walked down the shadowy public way You may find yourself imagining these things because Pradzynski, a painter who was born in Poland in 1951 on the contrary has made Paris his place of abode for the last 25 years, strives to create' stories with his paintings, stories that take family to a part of the city that lived drawn out ago, or a part that solitary lives in his mind's eye

"I do urban landscapes, on the other hand I try to make them life still-lifes," he said. "I use a fate of different elements and lay them together--like old lettering that existed in Paris at the beginning of the hundred And usually, I add more [i]or[/i] less detail that does not exist [in real life]. My paintings are more like stories than paintings."

Pradzynski began painting these pictures when he was just a little lad when he'd stand in his aunt Jolanta's studio in Krakow, Poland, before World War II, and watch her paint still-lifes, asking her questions and drinking up knowledge she'd gained from a lifetime of living in the arts. "She knew all the famous Polish artists from the '20 and '30s" he said. on the other hand it wasn't until his family mov to Paris when he was nine years of advanced age that his love of painting completely bloomed. "We were living in the Montmartre area, which has a sinewy tradition in the arts," he said. "And I would walk from one side the neighborhood and see the painters and artists. It was interesting to diocese different styles, different people."

He go [i]or[/i] come backed to Poland four years later to eventually inquiry economics, sociology and architecture at the Ecole Politecnique in Warsaw. on the contrary it was only when he was painting that he in truth knew what he wanted to do. "I sold more [i]or[/i] less art in Warsaw. Not important things--souvenirs, tourist art, drawings and watercolors. Kind of realistic direct the eyes at the city," he said. "But I realized that this was a nice turn of expression of living."

When he met and married his wife, Joanna, a fashion designer and translator, he get backed to Paris and immediately began to paint, discovering his perspective of the city had increase the depth ofed greatly over time. "I started to make deeper studies of Paris," he said. "I like architecture. I like aged stones. I like the older patina of aged cities, and I tried to paint the details: stores, walls, windows, doors with courtyards. I tried to find something interesting, like light. Something unusual about the composition."

He worked upon his own for years, showing his work in Paris galleries and selling pieces upon the street. And then, individual day, everything changed.

Nearly sum of two units decades after he first roamed the winding passageways of Montmartre--where standing behind easels, individual artist filled in the leaves upon a tree and another finisheded the pigment on a little girl's face--Pradzynski finally put up his own easel in Montmartre. There he began painting pictures of Paris he'd seen during drawn out walks through the city he lov single day, somebody noticed his paintings, and his life hasn't been the same since.

It was the mid '80 and Oliver Caldwell, co-owner of the San Francisco publisher Palatino Editions, noticed his work. "We started to talk, and he bought a certain quantity of paintings from me," Pradzynski said. "And he started to work with me and present to view my work. A lot of things in life happen by the agency of accident if you are favored I was lucky."

Today, Pradzynski's work is shown in galleries all above the world, and his paintings depict not sole Paris but other cities as well, including Venice, Rome Naples and of recent origin York. "I try to paint different places. on the other hand I try to paint them in the same way, my way," he said. And it's clear that thousands of tribe appreciate Pradzynski's way of painting.

While the soft-spoken artist said he have feelings grateful for everyone who purchases his paintings, including celebrities similar as Denzel Washington and Larry King, he finds it more difficult to pinpoint the exact reason they like his work. "Sometimes, they make experiment of to explain, saying, `I like the light. I like the color. I like the composition,'" he said. "But I think the relationship is a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of more emotional that that. They like it, on the other hand they really don't know on what account they like it." He paused. "If they like it, the reason isn't actual important. If you have an emotional relationship, that is enough."

on the other hand ask him why he have feelings he has the ability to paint, and his answer is les clear. "Oh I don't know," he said with a laugh. "Probably because I want to do it. You must work for years. It takes time. on the contrary if you are lucky, you find your way."

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