Mural - RASPAZJAN (Poland), 2015

The mural at ulica Sienkiewicza 39 in Śródmieście-Centrum [city centre district] was painted by Raspazjan, a street artist from Górny Śląsk [Upper Silesia]. The work was created in 2015 as part of the Energia Miasta festival, a continuation of Łódź's Urban Forms Gallery.

The artist and his style

Jan Michał Raspazjan is a painter and sculptor from Górny Śląsk. In his work he combines futuristic visions with motifs drawn from folk traditions, drawing in particular from Silesian demonology. Characteristic of his works are hybrids of humans and animals, as well as abstract forms interwoven with typography, placed in fairy-tale, dreamlike scenes.

What the mural depicts

The central figure of Raspazjan's Łódź work is a woman-cat, depicted as if sitting on the roof of the neighbouring building. The photograph of the mural was taken by G. Stężała, documenting it for the Urban Forms Foundation archive. The mural itself has no official title; the source of the project describes it as an untitled work.

The area

The mural sits directly next to another well-known Urban Forms realisation, a mural by M-City at ulica Tuwima 16. The intersection of Sienkiewicza and Tuwima is one of the points in Łódź where several works from the same street gallery are found in close proximity to one another.

The context of the Energia Miasta festival

The mural was created as part of the Energia Miasta festival, a continuation of Łódź's Urban Forms Gallery. The Urban Forms Foundation documents its realisations in an archive, in which Raspazjan's mural is described as an untitled work, with the date of creation and the name of the photographer documenting the result. The work combines figurative painting, visible in the figure of the woman-cat, with decorative and typographic elements in the background.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Sienkiewicza 39, Śródmieście-Centrum, Łódź.
• Access: the mural is on the wall of a building on a busy street in the city centre, accessible from the pavement.
• What to expect: a colourful, painted composition featuring a woman-cat figure, with no information plaque at the mural itself.
• Nearby, at Tuwima 16, there is a mural by M-City.
• Accessible around the clock as an element of public space.