This page suppose to be classic artist statement of some sort. But it won't. Why? Because I don't really like the idea of artist statements. Maybe not the idea to be precisely, but the form. Who is writing these words? Me. Mike Demiurg. I'm artist, illustrator, designer, freelancer. I'm also human being and as such, can't be shrank into few paragraphs of strictly organized text. That's why I'm going to address You as directly as we were talking face to face, drinking beer in the pub for a whole night.

Page You are browsing right now is my online portfolio.

About Me

I wasn't born as an artist with a brush in his one hand, and few tubes of paint in another. Many say they are artists, because they had no other choice. It's true with me only partially. Born in the small town of Poland, in time when steel curtain was still separating us from civilized world, having no one around who could draw, learn, or just stimulate young kid, I wanted to do computer graphics because I just liked the images. But then everyone used to told me - it's not for you kid, you can't draw, it won't ever happen, you don't have talent. Think about something you could do! So 'graphics' was thrown away, and 'computer' was all that left.

Went for studies. Computer science was obvious choice. I always had that ease with computers which is truly needed. Completed few years, but programming wasn't really for me. People are always shocked when I tell that story, because I quit when not much really left to get diploma. Then I started with usual office jobs, tried sociology studies and quit them too. At this point I really thought that something is totally wrong with me, because I just couldn't finish my education.

But I was working, and getting better and better jobs. I thought that was my path in life. Finally I have found a job as a project manager for a leading polish e-learning company. I was getting experience, it was demanding, I accepted it totally, creative people were everywhere around.

And then something clicked. I wanted to try. Nothing really more. Just try drawing. I was to afraid even to think of something more. But it clicked. Absolutely. Fully. Undeniably.

Learning

…, opening for a new experiences, experimenting. Those are everything to me. I'm self taught artist, and thats my big advantage. There are no excuses for lack of knowledge for me. I just need to know, check, discover. Every day I learn something new. It's fantastic thing! Like an endless journey.

Art and artist

I believe there are three major things that make you an artist. One is doing your absolutely best and even more. Second is never being satisfied completely and feeling hunger for more. Last one is being open minded and ready to change everything in one second.

You can make chairs and be an artist, unless you do your best and more. Let say client comes to you, and needs a chair. So you listen to him, you watch him sitting on other chairs, then you read, explore, check, build models, learn things you never did before just to make that one little chair, and after all that you decide that you will add some special seat. Like someone said, art is not about walking, it's about flying. You never do just good job, your aim is to do best you can possibly imagine.

Then you got a present from a friend. It's book on history of chair making. And you see all that fantastic stuff that was made before you were even born. Fantastic sculptures, amazing seat textures, unbelievable ideas. None of these look exactly like your chair, but you realize that it's not even half of a journey, that you need to do something much much much better before you'll be really satisfied. And it's doesn't matter if ten thousands people around the world think you are making best chairs, or another year your chair-art will be published in the same book. It doesn't really matter, because any time you look at your chairs, you can see something that could be have been better. So you work harder and more. And more you work, more things still to do you see. That hunger will never be satisfied.

But time to show your best chair to the client is getting closer. There is no worries, because it's almost finished, just a few touches. And suddenly when you walk with your dog around the park you see some lady sitting on the bench. In that moment you realize that something crucial is missing in your chair. There is no place for elbows to rest! But damn, it changes your whole design, it will influence how other parts are build. So what you do? You almost forget about your dog, you run to your workshop, you don't eat or sleep, you just grab piece of wood and start from the very beginning! Inspiration, ideas, seeing comes unpredictable and being an artist means being ready to accept them.