Design and art

Wojciech Tuleya Małgorzata Czyńska By Wojciech Tuleya Małgorzata Czyńska

1. The eclecticism of interior. The history ofa painting.

Edward Dwurnik

A collection of design classics – Utrecht armchairs by Gerrit Riteveld from the 30’s, a light shelf by Franco Albini from the 50’s, and a contemporary low buffet by Piero Lissoni. A well-balanced Dutch construction and Italian airiness are united by Pollock-style painting by Edward Dwurnik.

With his typical ease and disdain for conventions and etiquette, Dwurnik combines many stories and perspectives in one painting. Using casual splashes, tickles and threads of paint, he painted over his previous work showing a landscape of a city with diagonal lines of tenement houses, which – in turn – had already been painted over the gallery of faces. The new substitutes the old, the past blends with the present.

2. An interior with a view. Towards the painting.

Edward Dwurnik

Design and art – the mutual intermingling of Tulip furniture by Eero Saarinen and paintings by Edward Dwurnik, the fading of boundaries, a new quality. The simplicity of streamlined armchairs by Saarinen, the purity of lines and Baroque splendour, the exaggeration of forms and colours in the landscapes by Dwurnik, and his wild and poetic expression – they all seem to be meant for each other. Suggestive and sensual reflections of paintings in the table top lure the audience into their abyss, into a mysterious green and shady labyrinth of ravines, and into the sea waves brushing away the golden beach. Organic ‘legless’ furniture and ‘frameless’ paintings – and it’s all floating.

3. A recipe for a kitchen. Ingredients of a painting.

Edward Dwurnik

A kitchen overlooking a lake. In the 80’s a German kitchen manufacturer, Bulthaupt, adapted the idea of a separate, free-standing worktop, the so-called kitchen island, from industrial kitchens to private interiors. Combined with an enormous richly-coloured landscape by Dwurnik, such a kitchen suddenly becomes the fulfilment of dreams, the marriage of the minimalistic spirit of interior decoration with the maximalist search of every visionary, and each art or design enthusiast. The functionalism and sophisticated simplicity crowned with an explosion of red poppy flowers and the azure of tropical waters, the greenery of trees and a clear cloudless sky. Simple ingredients – fantastic result. The painting by Dwurnik is a pure joy of creating and joie de vivre, the admiration for scenery and carefreeness of a happy man.

4. The harmony of contradictions. An artistic gesture.

Edward Dwurnik

Postmodernism. Unity in multiplicity. The diversity of forms, textures, colours. World-famous icons of design – two LC1 Basculant chairs and the legendary Le Corbusier chaise lounge from 1928. The gravity of the dark interior is broken by such details as the light and funny clock by Georg Nelson. An abstract painting by Edward Dwurnik seals the entire construction with a maze of colourful lines that perfectly correspond with the colouring of space, the shapes of furniture and the chandelier, with the arrangement of the black wall that is ‘cut’ by blue lines.

5. An American encounter. Painting in action.

Edward Dwurnik

Unlimited imagination, quality and elegance. An armchair by the most celebrated pair of world-class designers – Ray and Charles Eames – is the type of furniture everybody knows, since it raises the value of any interior. The American coupe meets a truly American expression by Edward Dwurnik, who finds inspiration in the technique of action–painting popularised by another famous American, Jackson Pollock. The seemingly mad and uncoordinated painting of gestures is aesthetically well-thought-out. Similarly to Pollock, Dwurnik ‘never loses control over his actions’.

6. Less means more. A picture in the background.

Edward Dwurnik

Without strong contrasts, spectacular gestures or an accumulation of things – only sophisticated simplicity. Furniture and painting that emphasise the status of the place. Smart blackness of the walls and the floor as a background to the gems of the world-class art and design – the armchairs designed by Pio Manzu coupled with an abstract painting by Edward Dwurnik.

7. The beauty of greyness. A tamed colour.

Edward Dwurnik

Comfort, relaxation, rest. An oasis of mild, restrained colours, comfy furniture. Designs by Rodolf Dordoni for MINOTTI are the ideal of comfort and beauty. The meticulously chosen furniture and furnishings constitute a perfect harmony. The abstract painting by Edward Dwurnik perfectly merges into the world of comfort and relaxation, the consolation of the senses. Here la dolce vita consists of Italian design and Polish painting.

8. Black and white. A graphic trick.

Edward Dwurnik

A classical trick that always works – a pure combination of black and white. High contrast, a modern and noble effect. Comfortable Le Corbusier armchairs, a bookshelf (deign by Neuland for MDF ITALIA), good art – and the dreams of hedonists are coming true. A licentious painting by Edward Dwurnik against the white background. A tangle of bodies, an abounding gallery of figures is tamed by the graphic combination of black and white. Even if the Polish act like pigs at parties, they do it in elegant interiors.

9. Fun and symmetry. The wallop of painting.

Edward Dwurnik

The Grand Comfort Chair by Le Corbusier and the painting by Edward Dwurnik entitled ‘Berlin Voice’ – three armchairs and three musicians with guitars.Serious classics of design and a painting – the pastiche of a music poster. Top hats, hair covering faces, pyjamas – according to the painter these are the attributes of the Berlin alternative music scene in the 80’s. A strong contrast between the yellow and blackness of the background. An intense colour, a rock atmosphere. Design and painting are playing in one band.

10. Solace in the interior. A painting drifting to the top.

Edward Dwurnik

Turquoise and greyness. A sea-coloured interior – from the paradisiacal waters of the Caribbean, to the cool and menacingly darkening waves of the Baltic Sea (furniture by Rodolfo Dordoni for MINOTTI). And on top of all that, a nautical painting by Edward Dwurnik. A drawing of foamy sea waves is a painter’s game – balancing between abstraction and figuration. A well-known theme in an innovative and energetic expression.

11. Edward Dwurnik

Edward Dwurnik

I absolutely adore paintings in real, authentic interiors. And these ones here are almost ideological, as the title of the enterprise suggests. Gorgeous, well-considered, aptly designed. Journalists are always asking me about my liking for luxury – expensive cars, designer labels, exclusive furniture and gadgets. I do admit: I like luxury. When still in nursery or primary school, I once read a horoscope for my star sign, saying that Aries liked elegant women. It made such an impression on me that I transferred the rule of elegance to all aspect of my life and I have always followed it.

12. Pur composition. A winter landscape.

Edward Dwurnik

Le Corbusier, Piero Lissoni, Edward Dwurnik – the story about the meeting of a Frenchman, an Italian and a Pole in one interior, and the outcome of such an encounter. A winter landscape and a winter interior warmed with the colouring of the armchair, the table and the painting. A perfect combination – a symbiosis, a set of self-complementary chords. A lesson on style in a nutshell.

Photographs: Cezary Hładki. Interiors: Basia Dereń-Marzec



Selected works

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