Polish street and fine artist Bartek Świątecki, AKA Pener, is in Ōtautahi for an exhibition of his works at Fiksate Studio & Gallery. Cityscape catches up with him on a cold, rainy morning as he stretches the last of his canvases in preparation.

Welcome to Christchurch, how are you finding the weather? It’s the only one time gap that I have this summer. We’ve got, in Poland, 34 or 36 degrees right now.

We apologise on behalf of our city. Tell us a little about your show at Fiksate, Vacation From Reality. Vacation From Reality is a key phrase that can be read in various ways. For me, my paintings are an escape from the reality that surrounds me. They are such a dive into emotions, shapes, a different world where you can feel safe, where you can relax. On the other hand, there is also the context of the times and the world we are in. Two years of Covid, a few lockdowns, no exhibitions, no trips, a lot of aggression and hatred of the authorities in Poland. Now a huge, unimaginable cruelty in Ukraine. A trip to New Zealand can be a vacation from reality, my personal journey in search of rest and safety in emotions. I have prepared eight works. I prepared four new works especially for the exhibition with Fiksate. In my work, I focus heavily on colour and dynamics. I wanted them to be perceived as super positive, giving an injection of good energy.

Why did you decide to become an artist? Was there a defining moment? I come from a family where art has always been present. My grandfather, Mirosław Świątecki, had beautiful paintings and sculptures at home. He was a professor of Polish philology and an initiator of various theatre and music groups for students. His son, and my uncle, Marek Świątecki, was a famous painter from Olsztyn and an animator of artistic life. As a kid, I visited my uncle's studio, where he painted large, hyper-realistic pictures. I remember that he struck me with his commitment and diligence. The Secondary School of Arts, and then studying painting at the University, did not come as a big surprise at home. It seems to me that everything I have comes very naturally. I don't remember the moment. Here it is! Now!

What’s the art scene you came up in? I think the last 20 years were very exciting because a lot of things have developed in Europe. I think at the beginning nobody used the term of ‘street art’. I never thought that it could be my, maybe not my job, but my daily routine, you know, thinking about art, doing stuff in school with my students. So in the beginning it was just some kind of fun, you’d be in the right place at the right time. I have a lot of friends who started at the same time as me. So for many years, we pushed each other, or just maybe eleveated ourselves. You cooperate but at the same time you have a very healthy competition. All of the guys from Poland and Europe, we are very close friends.

And has that scene changed over the years? A lot change. I don’t know what will happen next. I know where I am now and I know what happened in the past, but I don’t know still what’s going on in the future. I think this last 2 years changed a lot, the situation in Europe as a whole market for art. Usually in this time, summer, we go to the festivals and paint big walls, but it was stopped for two years, or three years. I had an exhibition in Japan, and a really big job in Dubai in the Emirates, and all of them were cancelled. So this last two years I realised life can change, so you’ve got to be prepared for the plan B and C and sometimes D.

Will the cancelled shows happen another time? Well, Japan was cancelled and Dubai was very tricky. It was a year and a half when I was talking with architects and it was a very long process. It was a very big building, like an entrance to the stadium. And I think, when you build something fresh in Dubai, a percentage of the budget needs to be for art. I realised at the end they needed to do this wall, with me or without me. It was a case of “Come, or no. Because if no, we need to find another artist and start this process from the beginning.” Plan B was to do some kind of casting for some guys in India. They found four artists who could do my style, and I was calling them two or three times a week, managing the project. It was very tricky for me, because at the end it was a little bit me, but it’s not me.

Is this your first overseas exhibition since? Last year in December I had an exhibition in Paris. It was 50/50 if it was gonna happen because covid was still in Paris. Everybody was wearing masks. The exhibition was a success because we sold some ,but it was not a 100% success because I think five of those works went back to Poland. I had an exhibition in Warszawa, in Poland, the capital. And now I’m here in New Zealand. I prepared this exhibition last year, and it’s like a goal for this year.

So why, if you have the opportunity to exhibit in places like Paris and Japan, would you choose a small city like Christchurch? My goal is not to sell everything or to be everywhere where there is money. Most important is to think about collaborating with good people, to develop yourself. To have a good place for your works. That kind of feeling is here in Christchurch. I’ve worked with (Fiksate owners) Jenna and Nathan the last two or three years, so I trust them. I think the trust is the main reason I’m here. I’ve never been in New Zealand, it was my goal for many years. Maybe not in this weather, because I’ll only see a small part of the city.

What jobs have you done other than being an artist? I think I am a socially engaged person. I have been a member of the „Tratwa” association for over 20 years. I have created or participated in many social projects at the interface between art and culture. Our association's projects often relate to history and culture. They build bridges between generations. I worked for several years as a graphic designer in a large company. I was building a promotional campaign for a huge project involving local micro- companies. I have been working as a teacher for 15 years. I think it all revolves around broadly understood arts and culture.

What are your ideal working conditions? I don't need much. Phone off. Good coffee. Wide brush. Music.

How has your work changed over time? Has your skill or ideology changed? It's hard for me to say this because I have very little distance to my work. Technically, a lot has probably changed. Looking at my paintings from a few years ago, I can see a huge technological development. On the other hand, I remain faithful to the ideals I set for myself at the very beginning. Be honest with yourself, don't do anything I wouldn't be comfortable with, be happy and bring happiness to others with your work.

Where do you find inspiration? A very difficult question - it seems to me that everything affects us positively or negatively. I often have the impression that I act like a filter, that I have some kind of hypersensitivity to stimuli that nobody notices. It's such a very delicate world that I really care about. Of these obvious ones, it seems to me that music is a very good carrier of inspiration. I often get carried away and the first sketches for new works are created under the influence of music.

Do you do a lot of research or dive straight into a new painting? My paintings don't tell specific stories. The title and interpretation always come rather towards the end. I sketch a lot and think about the whole series of paintings, but while working, I try to get carried away. I work a lot on colour and gesture. Often the canvas becomes such a logical game - to scatter and arrange everything in a coherent harmony.

From what you have seen, how does the Christchurch street art scene compare to cities in Poland? I’ve seen a few walls in the centre of the city. In the beginning I was a bit shocked because there is a lot of murals. Like commercial ones on banks, and there is a lot of graffiti, very colourful ones, on a lot of places, abandoned buildings and hidden walls, which is super fresh. In my hometown there are a lot of places that, back in the days, were for graffiti writers, but after the process of gentrification they’re building new skyscrapers, new buildings, and you can’t put a mural on that kind of places. So that process of gentrification pushed the street art to different places. What you have here in Christchurch, I see only a few places in Europe.

Is that important, do you think? The street art thing is very important. Because what we are doing right here is a white cube. It’s a white gallery where you put canvases and it’s for a special group of people who are collectors, maybe art lovers who maybe feel invited to be here. But street art is a different kind of thing, you know, because it’s surprising you when you cross the street. You’re not ready to see that kind of art. That’s why, after so many years, for me it’s so fresh.

Tell us about an exciting project you have recently completed. I just picked up my book from the printing house. A lot of stress because I was assembling it myself, I also participated in the entire printing and sewing process. I prepared it especially for the exhibition in New Zealand.

Tell us more! It’s the last six years of my works. A mixture of walls and travels. It’s a little bit like a diary. The process of how walls push into the canvases and things from the canvases go to walls. And my trips, to Japan, to Taiwan. I’m super happy with this book because in Europe at the moment it’s really difficult with the paper so it was very emotional, I didn’t have an idea what kind of paper they would use. I chose a matte and when they started printing I was so happy because of the colours, though after two hours the saturation started to fade just a little bit. You’ve got a lot of stresses. I wanted a cover of four to five millimetres, but on those days there was no 5mm card in all of Poland because of China, because of supply. It was a disaster, you know. There’s a lot of small things. Of course It’s not sponsored, so I use my money. I told my wife only half the price of this, and there was two weeks of silence at home. So I’m still just wondering how I’ll sell 500 copies.

Do you still do much street art? I feel that I’m somewhere in the middle of fine art and street art. Everybody’s talking about street art, but usually my goal is to spend time in my studio and work as a fine art artist. I remember a moment when I painted 12 or 15 walls per year. Now I paint three. Not because I’m lazy, but because I’m maybe older and those walls are bigger, you need to have lifts and things. At the beginning it was just small ones for, you and your friends.

What artists do you admire? My friends with whom I work with have been a huge inspiration for many years: Robert Porch, Daniel Chazme, Krzysztof Syruć, Sainer, Mateusz Bezt, Nawer.

Does your alias ‘Pener’ have a meaning? Yes and no. The story is very simple. At the beginning in ‘95 and ‘96, everybody in my hometown in Poland who was painting graffiti had three-letter names. I don’t know why. It was just kind of a mood. I chose PNR, and in Polish when you say these letters, you hear it as ‘Pener’. And in Germany, ‘pener’ means somebody who lives on the street, like a bum, like a punk. So I thought Pener started to mean something. And at the beginning my style was very dirty. I used a lot of very aggressive style. So it was combined with my style. And after so many years I think I should choose Sir, or something more prestigious, but it sticks to me like gum. You can’t throw away your name, you know.

What’s next on the horizon for you? Covid changed the routine a bit. I have the impression that everything is getting on track very slowly. A large exhibition of Polish abstraction at Mirus Gallery in Denver is just underway. It is an exhibition that Nawer planned for a long time together with Polish artists. In August and September, I am planning a large wall project in Poland. I'm talking all the time and I'm planning an exhibition in Japan.

Vacation From Reality
Fiksate Studio & Gallery
Friday 15 July – Saturday 13 August
fiksate.com