Marek Sak's painting is varied in its character and it forms a unique enclave, difficult to be defined. It is usually referred to as spontaneous, colourful and provocative. Sudden artistic impressions are conveyed without any mawkishness, by direct and simple means of expression.

The works are a trifle hermetic, yet cheerful, full of primitive figures, similar to children's drawings on the wall or signs discovered in caves. Sak's canvases, frequently in decorative frames, are filled with characteristic forms of lively colours, arranged in shallow and sometimes compact spaces, very close to the surface. The objects are sometimes allusive, yet nearly always ambiguous. Most of all they are the forms of erotic nature, mainly those which in the laconic and crude way emphasize feminine attributes. There are shameless pictures of female genitals as well as numerous round and swollen forms; huge breasts and hips, ovals hiding the secrets of a life-giving egg or ripe fruit and seeds. They seem to be dominating the fully aroused or ready to arouse phallic symbols. Energetic intercourse of both powers are accompanied by explosions-ejaculations, blasting with energy.

Paintings recall the myth of creation of the world, associate with the cult of fertility, remind us of the constant fight of basic life powers, yet these connotations are also very close to the images of the land of eternal happiness, where around the Great Bed, an ideal metaphorical counterpart of Eden, there are paradise birds, animals from some fairy tales or parables and the folklore wisdom comes true in the real life, joyful and safe.

Marek Sak's charming images are also based on abstract forms, like in architectural compositions, the works based on observing the urban landscape, or seen as basic geometrical figures and various ideograms.

Each formal element must convey emotional meaning. Synthesis of distinct drawing and bright coloured plans with harmonious contrasts contribute to the expressive value of the work. The vibrating colour plans enrich the objects with specific, abstract joy of life. Colours arranged skillfully serve the purpose of exposing light and depth of the objects.

In his plain-air paintings and graphics the artist refers to quite different painting tradition - the tradition of widely understood modernism, especially of the landscape school of Jan Stanisławski. The paintings created in this poetics are very impressive, synthetic pictures, in which the artist worships nature. In a few patches and streaks the author reveals the positive features of a landscape which temporarily drew his attention and became a painting subject, motivated by an interesting range of colours, shapes or a peculiar mood. He creates a synthetic, general vision without peering into the details or picturesqueness.

Colour used in its expressive function, sometimes limited to the range of primary colours, plays an enormous role in creating this image. The artist utilizes the Fauvists' palette as well, yet he avoids the excessive violence of hues. Moreover, the impression of depth in these paintings is created by colour, not by perspective. Arranged properly, often homogenous and pure colour plans contribute to the impression of 3-dimensional space and allow to obtain light, which is one of the basic artistic issues in Sak's plain-air compositions (especially in lithographic works).

* Marek Sak transforms his everyday observations into the expressions of universal nature. At the later stage of his artistic work there are fewer emotions and more reflections. There are also more references to cultural achievements of the mankind, to iconographic motives being a shared value, references to the sphere of myth, footpaths leading in the direction of general notions. The sensitive viewer will notice that the philosophical layer evoked by the main element organizing the myth or the biblical motif shown in the picture refers also to the contemporary time, raising inevitable questions about the sense of our everyday efforts and search, about being faithful to the legacy of the past. Anyway, we travel in the world of values, stopping on the way in order to find grounds for our next searches.

Marek Sak is an author of oil paintings, water-colours, pastels, lithographic works and woodcuts. He willingly expresses his experiences both in arranging big spaces and in a small form in graphics. He is an author of numerous ex-libris in which he repeats the basic motives of his work.

Dariusz Leśnikowski