Tomasz Sętowski, his house and his Dream Factory.

For all the fans of Tomasz Sętowski I have something to share with you about the private life of the great artist. I found this information by accident whilst searching the web. Almost a year ago a Polish local paper from Częstochowa (it is Sętowski's city) posted an article and photos about the place where he is living. The article is in Polish but the images are in a universal language. 

Here is the link: Tomasz Setowski and his house

A short summary of the article: Tomasz Sętowski lives in Stradom, a district of Częstochowa. He lives there with his wife, son and Mona, the dog. Their house is a private sanctuary; only for them and their closest friends. He lives in a house which may not be big enough in area but is overflowing with history.

The house belonged to a well known artist, Marian Michalik, who was also Sętowski's teacher. In his paintings Michalik used the technique of the XVII century Dutch masters of still life, giving the images a touch of magic realism. Over the last few years Sętowski has become known worldwide as one of the most prominent representatives of the style called "Magical Realism". Before that he was just categorised as a surreal painter. There are only a few painters belonging to this Magical Realism subgroup of surrealism who can paint like Sętowski, faultlessly and with masterly technique.

Tomasz Setkowski in his Dream Factory.

Tomasz Sętowski has his own gallery/studio called The Museum of Imagination in Częstochowa. The address of his Dream Factory is ul.Oławska 2; 42-200 Częstochowa, Poland
phone: +48 (34) 366 66.

Hereby some wonderful images of his work - all of them are gouaches.
Most of the titles of these images has been translated by myself. Some of the translations of the images on Sętowski's website are not good in my humble opinion.

Awaiting  Inspiration

The Enchantress Of Dreams

The Rider of Time

Penelope

What Is Going On On This Planet

Tomasz Setowski

I've just got back from my Christmas holiday in Poland. My partner Jim and I spent the first night in the Marriott in Warsaw. We arrived in the late evening, and while searching for a restaurant in the Marriott to celebrate Jim's birthday I noticed some very unusual paintings on the walls. They were fantasy art paintings, it was incontrovertible. They name of the artist was Tomasz Setowski. I had never heard about him before this particular moment in the Marriott in Warsaw. They were paintings he created between 2000 and 2007. Some of the works have previously been displayed in New York, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and elswhere. He is a very original, extraordinary, unique, surrealist Polish painter and I have never heard about him. Not good!

And he is very famous, actually. The next day in the morning I saw more of his works hanging on the second floor in the Marriott Hotel. He is a great artist, not doubt about this, but I missed something in his paintings. His imagination is so cold, so far-away. With Hieronymus Bosch or Peter Breughel you can feel the fear or the grimness or the grotesque. But here in Sętowski's paintings I couldn't find any emotion. They were very individual fantasy paintings only maybe understood by their creator. But this is only my feeling; Tomasz Sętowski is a great painter of the magical realism school.