Rafał Olbiński

To have or to have not. Figurative surrealist print, Polish art master

2023

Rafał Olbiński was born on February 21, 1943. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology. In 1981, he emigrated to the United States and soon became a well-known painter, illustrator and designer. Olbiński received more than 150 awards including Gold and Silver Medals awarded by the Art Directors Club of New York and Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles. He also won the International Oscar for the most significant Poster of the Year, the Prix Savignac in Paris, Creative Review magazine Award in London for the Best British Illustration and Premio Divina Giulia Award for his outstanding contribution to contemporary art. His works were on the covers of numerous magazines such as Der Spiegel, as well as served for projects of posters for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, La Scala and other opera houses worldwide. Frank Fox talks about Olbiński in the article, “The World and I” in the publication of the Washington Times, “Poetry in color, Olbiński’s paintings are expensive, eerily peaceful and their solitude encounters the unexpected, the absurd that is meaningful.”