Paul Hulewicz
Based in Switzerland mixed-media artist and photographer
Statement
Describing my work is to trace a movement – from the immediacy of street photography to natural imagery and interpreted landscapes, and ultimately into an ever-deepening dialogue with abstraction. This is where I find myself today: in a space where asking “what is this?” and “why this?” is not a request for answers, but a practice of seeing and feeling.
Surprise, ambiguity and the presence of open-endedness are vital ingredients in this process. The intuitive combination of shapes, tones, and colors is not merely a visual gesture, it is a way of thinking through perception, a choreography of chance and intention.
My inspirations come from natural landscapes, architectural forms, and also imagined structures that exist only in the subconscious. What was once a practice rooted in black-and-white photography has now evolved. Color has become essential – emotionally resonant, symbolically rich. Likewise, photography is no longer the sole vehicle for my expression. My current practice is deeply tactile: it includes acrylic pigment transfers, hand-constructed collages, gelli printing, and painting. These manual methods allow me to embrace imperfections, lucky coincidences, and the silent narrative of the handmade.
Mixed media is a liberation from control. It gives birth to mysterious textures, incomplete boundaries, unpredictable fragments – echoes of the human condition. They are reminders of our fragility, of how little we grasp.
The concept of creation through destruction holds particular meaning in my work. Anselm Kiefer once said: “The ruins are the beginning.” I take this to heart. Ruins are not residues, they are initiations. Chaos, collapse, or failed attempts often mark the very moment when something truthful begins.
In abstraction, I find a mirror for our times. It allows the interplay of tension and harmony, of beauty and devastation. It invites what poet Rainer Maria Rilke described as “living the questions now”. Through abstract forms, I aim to inhabit those questions, not solve them.
Exhibitions, Awards, Press articles
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- 2024 – Online exhibit entitled Fragments. Participants are members of FYV, the Bailey-Chinnery photographic community. The work is entitled Break Time Now.
- 2024 – Selected in the finalists of the Fine Art Photography Awards by Dodho – Independent International Magazine dedicated to photography based in Barcelona, Spain
- 2022 – Publication in Dodho – The series “Inspired by Unpredictable”
https://www.dodho.com/paul-hulewicz-inspired-by-unpredictable/ - 2022 – Spotlight Single Image Contest Winner – Black&White Magazine, Category Flowers/ Plants/ Fruits, October 2022 issue
- 2022 – Award in Looking Back-Looking Forward Contest – Black&White Magazine, Category Alternative Digital Processes, June 2022 issue
- 2020 – Merit Award – Portfolio Photo Contest – Black&White Magazine
- 2019 – Single Image Contest – Black&White Magazine, Categories Abstract and Digital/ Analog Manipulation
- 2018 – Honorable Mention – IPA, Category Nature
- 2017 – Honorable Mention – Monochrome Awards, Category Abstract
- 2017 – Merit Award – Portfolio Photo Contest – “Black & White” magazine
- 2008 – Exhibition “Noir et Couleur” – Bibliothèque Médiatique Municipale, Vevey, Switzerland
- 2008 – Exhibition “Noir et Couleur” – Gallery Photophore, Chexbres, Switzerland
- 2006 – Portfolio published in the magazine “Reponses Photo”, France
- 2006– Photo Contests of Allauch, France – two photographs awarded
- 2006 – Article in the Polish Journal of Photography “Fotografia” “Cities by Paul Hulewicz in Paris Espace Beaurepaire”
- 2006 – Exhibition in the Gallery Espace Beaurepaire, Paris – Street photographs in London and Paris