A new Vancouver mural pays tribute to Polish author Stanislaw Lim

Stanislav Lim’s work is now displayed on a wall in Vancouver.

This is not an artist. Die-hard science fiction fans will recognize the name of the most famous Polish science fiction writer. Mural painter Dmitriy Sirenko, who is related to Lem, was first chosen to paint the monumental artwork.

“I was hired by the Polish Consulate as part of the Vancouver Wallpaper Festival, which I found partly thanks to my artist friends,” Sirenko said.

A native of Ukraine, Sirenko has been shooting video games and animation in Vancouver for over a decade. However, after years of working out, he decided it was time to change his career.

“I really felt like it had become hard work at the end of this journey; I felt like that was killing my creativity.” Amazing Vancouver?.

That was two and a half years ago. Since then, he has been painting in a more traditional way. Often likes big screens. It fits your style and is a comfortable way to work. However, a few weeks ago, the largest piece he attacked was over two meters tall.

When he accepted the mural design (7 meters by 4 meters), it was clear that it would not be so.

“Because of its size, the mural poses a lot of challenges, but I was prepared for it,” she says. – I knew it was a different kind of monster.

Before he painted the bricks, he met with Polish representatives to learn more about her. Lem is one of the most famous Polish authors of all time. This year was announced by Seym as the year of Stanisław Lem, marking the centenary of his birth.

Honoring the influential writer with a mural makes sense, and Sirenko is decent because they were both born in the same city: Lviv, Ukraine.

“His most famous work is Solaris,” says Sirenko. “A lot of critics don’t think it’s the best, but it’s somehow the most famous.”

Two films entitled Solaris. A film based on the book with George Clooney released in 2002. A Russian film previously won the Palme d’Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. There is also a TV movie, four operas, several stage productions, and several audio versions. There is now also a star called Solaris.

Due to the popularity of the work, Sirenko’s painting is a homage to the story in which astronauts attempt to communicate with a planet where the ocean is a single living being, and the difficulties associated with it.

“He is one of the world’s most successful Polish writers,” says Sirenko of Lim. “What sets him apart from many Western science fiction writers is that he was one of the few who most explored the psychological and philosophical ideas of his time.”

These philosophical ideas included what life might be like and whether humanity was looking to reverse itself in its search for life among the stars.

This reflection on reflection was reflected in Sirenko’s article “Odbicie”.

“[The quote about reflections] It really attracted me and the consulate of Poland – he says.

Sirenko, who loves to paint waterscapes, willingly used the living ocean in his work.

Besides the depicted scene, he added other references to the finished mural. The astronaut on a platform with a menorah-like partition. Another is the constellation in the sky, Leo. It’s about viv. There is also an ocean astronaut badge. It is a Polish flag (Sirenko received help from the children of a member of the consulate).

There is also a crow and salmon at the bottom.

“The wave turns into a bird that looks like a crow, and it seems to be catching a fish,” Sirenko says. “I relate the mural and the festival to the fact that we are in First Nations lands.”

As an aspiring mural painter, even with preparation, there were some challenges.

“While working on it, I was working out some of those heatwave days,” he says. “It was up to 36 degrees Celsius, 38 degrees Celsius. Not only the sun rays on my back, but the paint is also overheating.”

Besides the uneven surface of the bricks and more streamlined paint, Sirenko has had some challenges to overcome, but she says it was worth it and she would definitely paint another mural if she had the opportunity.

“I can confidently say that this is something I am looking forward to,” she says.

It doesn’t matter that a lot of attention has already been paid to it. On Reddit, his post about this article received nearly 100,000 upvotes and So many compliments.

“It’s great to see this person grab your attention,” Sirenko says. “It’s not a job that I can sell, so it’s more for people who know it’s there.”