Hubert Gregorczyk

Your artworks are filled with vibrant colours and expressive landscapes. What role does colour play in conveying your emotions and ideas?

First of all I have to mention that vibrant colours are some sort of a trademark of my art. I simply love colours, it’s visible not only in my paintings, but also in my outfits and even decorations at my home. And already when I was making my first steps into art people around me were complimenting the colours I were using. Now I often use colours to express how I feel about something, but I also use them to make things seem a bit magical. I even have a project in which every painting presents a different emotion as forest in a different colour. So to sum up colours might be considered one of the most important parts of my paintings and if you try to analyse my painting you should take a moment to analyse the colours used as they are usually chosen for a reason.

You mention that most of your paintings come from imagination. How does your creative process usually begin when you start a new artwork?

It’s a great question. In general it starts with a thought of something, usually a word or a sentence. When I think of that sentence my imagination creates a picture of it. If I like that vision I start the actual process: I write in my notes what I want to put in the painting, and pretty often I also draw a sketch in my notebook. When I feel ready I put the idea on canvas. Sometimes my ideas have to wait months to “travel” from my notes to the canvas (especially when I’m having tones of them at the same time). But I believe that the universe always lets me paint them at the right moment.

Hubert Gregorczyk | An Autumn Day | 2024

Landscape appears to be a recurring theme in your work. What attracts you to landscapes as a subject?

I think I’m attracted to landscapes as a subject, because of my love for our world or more like my love for its nature. The beauty of nature has always been a huge inspiration for me. The colours of flowers, the sound of the Baltic Sea, the unique shapes of tree branches and finally the sunset sky, all these things never fail to impress me. And as much as I enjoy living in a big city, I feel so good when I’m wandering in a forest or a field of flowers and I’m always very excited to travel anywhere. Perhaps that’s the reason why landscapes express my ideas the best.

Hubert Gregorczyk | Ireland | 2025

Your painting An Autumn Day was inspired by a poem by Lina Kostenko. How does literature influence your visual language and artistic thinking?

Literature is a huge part of my life as I’m doing my master degree (and I graduated with the bachelor one last year) in Ukrainian Studies specialising in literature. You already know my imagination plays an important role in my creative process and I believe reading a lot of books helps in developing it even more. I always imagine the storyline in my head, even when it’s a short poem it makes me think in the language of images. With An Autumn Day the story is even more interesting, because except for the Kostenko’s poem a huge role was played by autumn leaves falling around me while I was walking in my area on a random autumn day, it reminded me of that poem and made me want to paint it. In short words literature stimulates my imagination and brings me new ideas to paint.

Hubert Gregorczyk | Jaz Sem Ti Si Veronika | 2025

Music also plays a role in your inspiration, as seen in Jaz Sem Ti Si Veronika. How does music affect your mood and the atmosphere of your paintings?

Oh yes, music is one of the main sources of inspiration for me. And just like while reading books I imagine the whole plot, listening to music makes me imagine the story the song talks about. If I don’t understand the language the song is sung in (I’m a huge fan of Eurovision, so it happens a lot) I can still imagine some colours, lights or maybe even a whole scenery, but sadly I can’t put everything I see in my head on canvas, just one scene. Answering your question, I think music doesn’t affect my mood directly, though it helps me regulate my emotions (i.e. when I’m frustrated I listen to some rock/metal etc.). When it comes to the atmosphere of my paintings, well, when a painting is inspired by a certain song I always try to present the atmosphere I feel while listening to that song. But when a painting is not inspired by a song – the music I listen to most likely won’t affect its atmosphere. I listen to a lot of dark music while my paintings are still rather bright and colourful.

Hubert Gregorczyk | The Sunset & The Tree In Tallinn | 2025

Your works often combine calm landscapes with deeper emotional or symbolic meanings. Is symbolism an intentional element in your paintings?

The answer is both yes and no. It really depends on a painting, sometimes I prepare a very long note with all the symbols I’d like to include in a painting, and sometimes I just have a picture in my head, I put it on canvas and only then I realise that there are objects that can symbolise something deeper, yet still corresponding with the main message of the artwork. Oh by the way, one of my lecturers once asked me about my paintings and I told her about the deeper meanings behind them and she called me a symbolist, I was very glad to hear that, and later I learnt that one of her scientific interests is actually the language of symbols.

Hubert Gregorczyk | Transformation | 2026

Acrylic paint is your main medium. What do you find most exciting about working with acrylics compared to other techniques?

It’s the most comfortable medium for me. You can use it in many different ways and you have a lot of control over it. I think also the effects I can expect from acrylics match my ideas the best. When it comes to other techniques, I gave a try to oil paints once, but I wasn’t ready for them yet and the experience wasn’t as exciting as I hoped (but I’d love to try it again one day). I enjoyed working with watercolour and gouache paints. I believe these two mediums are good for pieces in which I don’t need that much control over the paint.