Daily Inspiration: Meet Paul Kolazinski

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Kolazinski.

Hi Paul, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In an elementary class of 30 kids, there were only three or four answers to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Except for me. I knew already. My mom would give me four sheets of typewriter paper to draw on, and then I could go ask for more. I drew tigers for the middle school yearbook. In high school, I learned tools and techniques to draw photo-realistically and drew my friend’s kids and their cars. In city college, I took every art class they had, some several times. In state college, I spent as much time in the Library with $500 art books as I could to be sated. As an undergrad, I was required to have a student show on campus. Over my time at that school, I had 11. At one of my first shows, a professor asked me who I was working with? I answered, “the Library” he said, “It shows.” I sold art in those student galleries on campus, which was very rare. I took all the classes they offered except for glass blowing, and I enjoyed them all. In papermaking, I made a six foot long I beam, and the professor gave me a round of applause for my effort. I love making art. I love looking at art and talking about art. I do not consider myself a painter or sculptor but simply “Artist”. Making sculpture is basically solving a list of problems because you are making something that has never been made before. Painting is essentially a pure session of choice making. Which brush to use, how to load it, how to hold it, which color, how quickly to move it, ad infinitum. My first painting professor taught us all how to build our own canvas stretchers to save lots of money compared to the art store. One of these handmade stretchers had a knot in the wood that came out as I was stretching the canvas, an imperfection. But I decided that I could make this mistake on purpose, with great effect. My work is a series of experiments, and I love it that way.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I was the best artist in my elementary school, and I was handpicked to illustrate the middle school yearbooks, I was encouraged by teachers and friends, and I won awards in student shows. I won local shows, and county shows and two national shows. I won scholarships and teacher’s choice awards and sold art in college to other students. I was prolific, and I knew that was going to have a career in art. After graduating with my BFA, I moved to the biggest sculpture city in the world, Chicago. I was in a couple of small nontraditional spaces there, but none of the galleries wanted anything to do with me. Galleries do not want artists to approach them. They won’t look at slides, or read your CV, or check out your Instagram. Galleries are not friendly to new artists. In 2003, I moved to Berlin because a lot of my favorite painters were “from there”. I am romantic and naive, and I learned in Berlin that the galleries in every city are all simultaneously in an exclusive club and competing with each other. The cream does not rise to the top. The best artist does not get the most attention. I was crushed. Heartbroken, I quit making art for about ten years. One day I realized that the art world did not miss me, and I was only hurting myself by not making art. Hat in hand, willing to start at the beginning, I started making art again and trying to get a gallery interested. I read a couple of art career books, but they give counterintuitive advice, and they contradict themselves often, so I am weary of “the right way” to get your art career started. You just have to make art, and approach galleries, enter shows and expect “No” a lot, if not every time. Galleries get HUNDREDS of unsolicited submissions a month. They say “No” a lot. Most of the time, they do not even say “No”, there is just no response at all. But, I will not make it if I quit.

So with a mountain of confidence and house full of finished art, I keep going, and hopefully someone will notice. People are starting to notice me. I have large ego in terms of confidence, but I am humble because 25 years of rejection will do that to you. I had a large amount of success in art school, and I was surprised that success did not follow me after school. I want this more than anything else, so I have to commit to it and push hard. I’m trying to make this big wheel start spinning and then keep any momentum I can find. This is nonstop and still a big question mark in terms of future success. I have a local gallery here showing my work. I have been in several group shows in the last few years, and people are starting to know me. Actually, I have met people who know me from my work they have seen at the gallery. Combine that with such an unusual name, I stick out. I have future group shows planned, and I see this all as small success that leads to more success. No one else is going to do this for me, and this is the most important part of my life. This is who I am. I am naive and romantic, proudly, and do not know any other way to make this happen. I am excited and proud to be included in this interview because people see me, even if I am unaware of that. I am giving the art life a lot of effort. It does feel very good to put “Artist” on the tax forms.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I was taught how to scratch make canvas stretchers from painting professor number one. This was a money-saving technique for students. The costs savings are significant, like 30 cents to the dollar. I can make this stretcher for $30 or buy to for $100 at the art store. Also, the quality can be as high or low as you choose. I realized I could make canvas stretchers that were not flat with just a couple of simple changes to the technique. The results were very exciting to look at in terms of sculptures. Then I would “paint” them. My sculpture friends would say, “Nice shape!” and my painting friends would say, “Great color”. I mix the two worlds, which believe it or not, do not blend very often both with the artist and the viewer. People just do not know what they are looking at. I watch them seeing and not speaking, usually with their mouth agape. Eventually, they ask a few “how” questions but usually just stand silently. I’m trying to experiment with how beautiful of a shape can I create with canvas stretcher techniques and how can I paint them in a way that shows off the unique shape. This is just an endless experiment. Sometimes geometric, dark, shiny, matte, bright, and on and on. I can reapply all of art history here, blending these two worlds of sculpture and painting. I call this series “Push and Pull”. There is a second aspect of these paintings, where I have an icon pushing forward from behind the canvas. My painting professor Rupert Garcia, told me “This was the most important thing to happen to painting since Julian Schnabel put plates on his canvases”. I consider both of these ideas “Push and Pull” paintings. Literally. The gallery that shows my work here in Austin, Ao5 Gallery, has featured me in 4 solo shows. They show international artists and local artists. I am the only local artist to have four solo shows. I am proud of this.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Silly lesson here, I bought a large amount of paint before covid, and I’m glad I did because it became impossible to buy during. Prices went up very high, and availability went to zero. I use very particular products that give me the results I need to count on. These products were not available for a large chunk of time until very recently. So now, having a year’s worth of paint on hand is standard. I have to rethink the value of lumber from the home store and alter my ideas about how much to have on hand going forward. Not thinking in a month by month scale but a year by year scale.

Contact Info:

• Email: kolazinski@yahoo.com
• Website: https://kolazinski.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kolazinski/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.kolasinski.3/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMOLAinOtHz7t3o-BhLVGQA
• Other: https://ao5gallery.com/collections/paul-kolazinski

Image Credits
My brother took the picture of me, Brian Kolasinski. All other images are mine, Paul Kolazinski