Gaf presents Emeritus Professor Andrzej Klimowski

Andrzej Klimowski is a graphic artist and a designer of theatre, opera and film posters. He is an international illustrator of book covers and press and magazine illustrations and an author of graphic novels (publishers include Faber & Faber and SelfMadeHero). His research interests are in narrative, investigating new relationships between text and image.

Born of Polish parents in London in 1949, Klimowski trained at the Saint Martin's School of Art before studying at the Academy of Fine Art and working professionally in Warsaw. His east-European legacy deeply influences his work. From the late 1970s he designed posters and book jackets – including novels by PG Wodehouse , Simon Louvish, Lionel Shriver, Milan Kundera and Kazuo Ishiguro – and illustrations, TV graphics and animation, following his particular of from examples of his 'Polish School' design.

The early twentieth century photo-collagists, Surrealism, Dada and Expressionism have been an influence on part of his work, but he has developed his own personal style with a combination of fantasy, anxiety, ambiguity and eroticism which keeps his works from becoming pastiche. He is the current head of illustration at the RCA, His work includes short films, illustrations and books, including Lo Sguardo Deviato (The Deflected Gaze), and most recently The Secret. His work has recently been the subject of a retrospective at the Theatre Museum in London.

From 1968 to 1972 Andrzej Klimowski studied sculpture and painting at St Martins School of Art. 1973 to 1980 he lived and worked in Warsaw, the first two years of which he studied poster design under Professor Henryk Tomaszewski and film animation under Dr Kazimierz Urbanski at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. He has designed many posters for cultural institutions in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Opole and Lodz and collaborated with leading book publishers. He directed Dead Shadow, a short experimental film shown at international film festivals in Krakow and London (1981). On returning to the UK, he worked freelance for Faber & Faber, Penguin Books and The Guardian. He has been a recipient of many international prizes, including: The Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards for best film posters (Los Angeles 1977 and 1978), Campaign Silver Award for RSC theatre poster (1987), The Daily Telegraph Award for Excellence in press campaign for British Telecom (1988), DA&D Silver Award for a Royal Mail Millennium stamp (London 1999), V&A illustration Award for the graphic novel Horace Dorlan (2nd prize 2008), 12th International Biennale of Theatre Posters (Honorary mention, Rzeszow, Poland 2009).