IDEAS
>
WARSAW
WIZZ MAGAZINE
/
41
Suchcourage, as it turnedout, gave
Polanda silent voice.Grey, uncompro-
misingcityscapes, characterisedbydrab
fencesanddecayingbrickwalls, became
covered inpostersasoutlets for inven-
tive typographyandunusual graphic
interplays.Warsawbecameanopen-air
art galleryof sorts,
andeverypicture
conjuredchildishglee
andanextraordinary
breadthof imagina-
tion.No longerwere
Polishpeoplestarved
of creativity.
Soon theart form
developed, taken
by the scruffof theneckbyagroup
of younger,more subversiveartists
who sought toconvey stronger,more
vivacious socio-politicalmessages. It
wasanartistic licencecoupledwith
theneed to fool the rulingcensorship
elite. “Thedesignersbegan tobemore
intuitive, emotional andexpressive,”
addsSławomir Iwański. “Theybecame
influencedby suggestivemetaphor. In
fact, they spedupour imagination.”
The irony, of course,was that through
thisperiodof surrealismand satire it
was theCommunist regime thatpaid for
nearlyall of thework
thathelped tounder-
mine it.ThePoland so
vividlyportrayedona
numberof thesepost-
ersdoes indeedexist
today–butonly if you
knowwhere to look
for it. It lives in the
bohemiancafesand
barsofPragaon theeastern sideof the
VistulaRiverwhereVarsovians still talk
about theolddaysandnewpolitics.Ones
likeWOparachAbsurdu, awonderland
of Soviet-erakitschandplaster-cast farm
animals, orSkladButelek, ahipsterbar
housed inanold rubber factory.
It canalsobe foundon thepostcard
racksoutside the souvenir shops that
fringe theMarketSquareand the terra-
cotta-cappedBarbican inWarsaw’sOld
Town.And itbreathes, aliveandwell, at
GaleriaPolskiegoPlakatu, apowerhouse
of agallerynear theRoyalCastlewhere
poster studentAleksandraPolitowska
sellsdozensofprintseveryday.
“Youcan tell a lot about aperson
by the typeofposter theybuy,” says
Aleksandra, flicking througha series
of radical interpretationsofHollywood
films suchas
TheEmpireStrikesBack
,
TheTerminator
and
Raidersof theLost
Ark
. Lastweek, sheexplains, aPolish
customerbought 28printsoriginally
commissionedby thePolishState
EntertainmentAgency, all of them
reading ‘CYRK’, orcircus.Americans,
meanwhile, buyprintswith strong
political overtones. Inparticular, they
loveThomazSarnecki’s
HighNoon
posterand
MidnightCowboy
“Youcan tell
a lot about a
personby the
typeofposter
theybuy”
PolandvsHollywood
Polishposters reinterpreted the traditionalmovieposter. Canyouguess
the classic films depictedbelow?
Answers:
1.
TheTerminator
, designedby JakubErol. 2.
TheReturnof thePinkPanther
, designedby
EdwardLutczy. 3.
StarWars
, designedby JakubErol. 4.
Back to theFuture
, designedbyMieczys-
lawWasilewski. 5.
TheUntouchables
, designedbyMieczyslawWasilewski
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