"Alukotron the Artist's show at the Pride Center pays tribute top his father" by Jersey Journal's Celeste Little

Photo: Katharine Egli/The Jersey Journal

Artist Alex Lutomirski-Kolacz of Jersey City had just begun exploring art when his father, Waclaw Kolacz, who was also an artist, died from Alzheimer’s Disease. The two were separated for 11 years because of Lutomirski-Kolacz’s emigration to the United States when he was 24, and by the time he saw his father again, his father didn’t remember him.

That was in 2005 and the loss sent him spiraling into a nearly seven-year depression and hiatus from which he has just recently emerged. Now he is coming back into the art scene with a show, fittingly titled “Honoring Our Fathers.”

“I had an awakening, an epiphany. I am an artist and I cannot not utilize my talent,” said Lutomirski-Kolacz. “I wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t for my father.”

“Honoring Our Fathers” is the first solo show for the artist who paints, writes and photographs under the name Alukotron the Artist. The exhibition opened just before Father’s Day on June 15 at the Pride Connections Center, and it features an oil depiction of Kolacz, to whom it is dedicated. It also includes photos and paintings of current events, Jersey City residents and Lutomirski-Kolacz’s own family history in Poland.

Between 2001 and 2005 , Lutomirski-Kolacz’s work was shown at group exhibits in the Bayonne Public Library and Jersey City Hall through The Hudson Artists of New Jersey, but this show Lutomirski-Kolacz considers to be an important personal expression.

“You cannot shut art up. Art will speak in so many languages. It will tell you a story without making a sound,” he said.

“Honoring Our Fathers” will be at the Pride Connections Center at 32 Jones Street in Jersey City until July 13.

"Alukotron the Artist's show at the Pride Center pays tribute top his father"

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