Marek Raczkowski

Ever since he was a little boy, he practised drawing cars and naked ladies, thanks to which it took him only one attempt to get into the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (with maximum points no less). His brother-in-law was the chancellor, but that has nothing to do with it. He debuted in 1992 as press illustrator in Obserwator Codzienny [The Daily Observer]. He then worked with magazines including Życie, Polityka and Zwierciadło, as well as the Wall Street Journal and that one French magazine he can never quite manage to remember the name of. In 2003, he received the Grand Press Award for journalistic writing (sic!). That was also the year he began working for “Przekrój”, and just a year later he drew his first alien. According to Marek, there are two types of aliens – the ones that look like embryos, and the ones that look like slugs. He chooses to draw the slug-like ones exclusively. This surely says something about him, but it’s not clear what exactly. Exhibitions, awards, more exhibitions, more awards – a lot of them even abroad. Until recently he believed that he was immortal, but now he’s starting to suspect that he might die one day. This thought haunts him every time a great artist passes away, and not just an illustrator.