Bartosz Jekiel's vision of Institute Benjamenta

Bartosz Jekiel, one of the founding members of Treslettres and Taking A Line, asks you a question:

You may be wondering what are all these drawings about?

About three months ago I saw a movie called Institute Benjamenta by the Quay Brothers; 

it struck me how much beauty is in this picture. 24 perfect frames per second.

I felt a sudden urge to create my version of a movie poster for Institute; theatre and movie posters are kind of a big deal for me.

I was then in the middle of working on Treslettres' next project called initially Forbidden Cities.

I got some positive feedback from my peers and it encouraged me to go further. 

We are pacing it slowly, so I've decided to shift my focus slightly to this newly found love.

I continued creating graphics based on the stills from the movie;

it gives me such a rush! 

My approach is based on free flowing drawing, 

an improvised manner where I don't do initial sketches, 

but get the watercolour pad on my lap,

get the ink on the paper using a Pilot Parallel Pen (2,4 mm).

You can either go forward or scrap the drawing;

there is no try. 

Using a simple tool is very important for the speed and spontaneity

(although sometimes I do play a bit in Photoshop once the drawing is done).

I've accumulated a number of these drawings now;

it would be interesting to 'connect the dots' and put it all together

once there is enough material and create a narrative

where each panel is loaded with its own meaning

like in the case of Polish theatre posters

as in the likes of Wiktor Sadowski

Stasys Eidrigevicius,

Franciszek Starowieyski 

and others in the Polish movie and theatre poster artistic community.

I've been enjoying the journey enormously; let's see where it takes me.

Thank you Brothers for your imagination.

Bart

All images belong to Bartosz Jekiel