
About Me
Jacek Przybyłowski was born on 13 June, 1960 in Chorzów, Poland. He learned to look at the world and take photographs from his father, a poet and teacher. In 1981 he graduated from the photography college in Katowice. He has been a professional photographer since 1982.
His first major works were created at the interface between two art forms: photography and music. Jacek photographed musicians and created portraits of prominent figures from the world of jazz. While the Iron Curtain was still keeping Poland tightly closed, festivals – like Jazz Jamboree – were an opportunity. For Jacek it was a celebration and an opportunity to create his own style of artistic expression on a large scale. He created series of portraits of the greats, such as: Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Archie Scheep, Pat Metheny and others. These works have their own style: they are superb portraits of consummate artists.
In 1987 he decided to leave the country. He first settled in Nuremberg, where he worked as an assistant in the photographic advertising studio of Zirn & Grötsch until 1991. At the same time he organised cultural activities, and was one of the founders of the Association for Polish-German Cooperation (along with its first president Tadeusz Nowakowski, Alina Grabowska, Barbara Kwiatkowska-Lass and Leszek Żądło). He broadcast on Polish Radio Z in Nuremberg, promoting Polish music. He organised concerts, performances and exhibitions.
In 1996 he decided to move to the island of Lanzarote. He runs his own restaurant, La Galeria, and works as a DJ as well as a tour guide around the island. Of course, he’s constantly looking for the next incredible photograph, and those pictures are the subject of this portfolio.
Volcanoes | Dir: Cezary Grzesiuk
POWERS
The eye of the photographer perceives the world and captures it the way it is. The eye of the photographer perceives the world and captures it the way it sees it. Jacek Przybyłowski reveals to us a world we are usually unaware of. His intimate world.
What’s it like? Silent, close to a murmur in his still lives. Louder in the shots of people and movement. Music, an everlasting fascination of Jacek’s, has always been present in his works. Music and painting. His interest in forms and shapes, which comes directly from his enchantment with abstract art, underlies the works, raising the problem of multiplicity. Repetition reinforces the power of expression. Rhythm, inner structure, and colour are terms used both in music and visual art. A road, drawn with two white lines in a dark, deserted landscape, disappearing beyond the horizon, perfectly illustrates Jacek Przybyłowski’s interests and art. It’s a very powerful, even shocking image. One more work which impressed me more than others depicts a white church in dim surroundings, as though in a dust storm.
It’s a pearl.
Exhibitions
1983 | Portraits – Chorzów, Poland
1984 | Palace of Culture and Art, Katowice, Poland /as a Member of Photographic Group MAK