Born in Poland in 1949, Marek Wilinski trained as a surveyor to please his parents, but painting has always been his passion. Migrating to Australia in 1981, Marek worked in many different fields before finally being able to pursue his dream of working as a professional artist.
A self-taught artist, Marek’s talents extend to many different aspects of art and he has worked successfully in the mediums of sculpture, drawing, watercolours and jewellery.
Painting has remained Marek’s passion and today he is renowned for his skillful use of acrylics & oils combining rich colour and subtle shading with dramatic effect. His works are fluid, fresh and distinctive, with a contemporary elegance.
Marek has no formal training bar working hard at developing his craft. He’s been painting for 25 years, works 10 hours a day, and makes his gesso, stretches his own canvas and experiments with colour, form and texture to produce work that speaks from the heart with visual eccentricity. He also travels widely which is represented in his eclectic body of work including figurative, landscape and still life explorations.
“I have two souls when I paint. One for me and one for others. They are both valuable and valid. Painting is hard because you need to choose and it’s about timing. It’s a physical involvement. My work was viewed in an advertising campaign for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. That changed everything”, he explains.
Over the years Marek has been a contributor to many art shows and group exhibitions and is a dedicated art teacher on the Mornington Peninsula. He has been collected throughout Australia and Poland.