Dariusz Vasina

Dariusz Vasina, born on December 16, 1964, in Krakow, is a multifaceted artist whose career spans painting, drawing, graphic art, illustration, and academia. He studied at the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow from 1985 to 1990, earning his master’s degree in the Copperplate Engraving Studio of Professor Stanisław Wejman, with additional study in Drawing under Professor Jacek Gaj.

Vasina has held a Ph.D. since 2007 and currently directs the Painting Studio at the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Krakow and the Illustrative Drawing Studio at SWPS University in Warsaw. He co-founded the Narrative Drawing Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts, leading it from 2011 to 2016, and is an active member of multiple artistic collectives, including Studio 2, Non-existent Trzy Oczy, Gili-Gili, and Akademicy Krakowscy. With over 120 exhibitions in Poland and abroad, Vasina lives and works between Krakow and Warsaw, remaining a central figure in contemporary Polish illustration and graphic arts.

Vasina’s work is characterized by a love for improvisation and the unpredictability of creation. Rarely working from preliminary sketches, he engages directly with the canvas or paper, allowing lines, corrections, and overpainting to guide the development of each piece. This approach creates a dynamic dialogue between intention and accident, where incompletely finished or altered sections often become key compositional elements. His fascination with line originates in Jugendstil and Młoda Polska, where decorativeness, linearity, and flat color captured his imagination as a young artist. Printmaking, especially copperplate engraving under Professor Wejman, deeply informs his graphic sensibilities, lending his works a meticulous, linear quality and a tactile attention to surface and form.

Narrative and figurative expression are central to Vasina’s practice, often conveyed through metaphor, subtle humor, or surreal imagery. Titles of his works – from The Tree of Babel to Pandora’s Box – serve as guides to understanding and enrich the storytelling inherent in each piece. His inspiration spans literature, cinema, visual arts, and comics, reflecting a lifelong fascination with brevity, synthesis, and the communicative potential of images. Vasina treats each work as a conversation, inviting viewers to decode layered meanings and emotional undertones. Whether through painting, graphic work, or illustration, he explores the interplay of melancholy, humor, and narrative, crafting art that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.