“I draw with a smile on my face and a million memories in my head.“
I first became aware of Rychter’s work as a creative designer through a project run by the fantastic A Store Like 94, who developed a digital exhibition that celebrated 30 years since El Phenomenon first burst onto the football scene. The premise of the project involved reaching out to 30 incredibly talented artists to celebrate one of the greatest number 9s the world has ever seen.
One of those exceptionally talented artists happened to be Rychter, who produced a piece for the exhibition called, ‘The Break’ AKA Kintsugi Ronaldo.
Now, for those who don’t know, Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the damaged areas with gold. It is a philosophy that treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
It was a subject matter that meant a great deal to Rychter, having been through his own struggles. It was a painting that became therapeutic for him and throughout the process he reminded himself of how he could come back stronger: different, changed, but stronger, from all the challenges he was facing. It also happened to be the first painting that sold at the exhibition, such was its popularity.
Rychter’s work is wonderfully unique. It’s thoughtful, fun, clever, humorous, inventive and nostalgic. It stands out as being something different, interesting and inventive whilst combining elements of pop art that makes its presence explode with colour.
One of the great things about Rychter is that I’m not sure he is aware of how great his work is. If he is, then he is far too humble to say.
“It’s hard to believe that my work can catch someone’s attention, not to mention someone liking it.” He tells us.
Football is the central character and muse throughout Rychter’s work, and he takes a playful look at the modern game as well as players and legends from the past. The beautiful game came into Rychter’s life early during primary school, and it’s something that gave him a sense of belonging.
Illustrating is something which came a lot later, but it has played an immeasurably big part in his life, “Drawing has become a valve for me and ultimately, I would like to be able to help others through it.”
Rychter was born in Warsaw but grew up in Brussels, where he lived until the age of ten before his family moved back to his homeland in 2000. It is a city and a place that will always be home to him, full of memories and inspiration.
It was a genuine pleasure to catch up with Rychter, whose only demand from this interview was that I try to make him sound less like Borat. He is a man with a wicked sense of humour and it was great to learn more about his life and story so far.
THOSE WERE MY FAVOURITE DAYS
Warsaw is a huge, bustling metropolis. However, each district has its own unique character, and thus the people from each district can be beautifully different. Local patriotism is also alive, both on a macro, urban, and micro-scale – at the level of housing estates.
We also have an interesting mix of Western, cosmopolitan trends and “Polishness”, which is difficult to define. A sort of national spirit so to speak. Combined, they create a place where everyone will find something for themselves.
I especially love my city in the summer. There’s a lot going on, the boulevards are alive 24 hours a day. A great time for Saturday morning football and sitting with friends on the banks of the Vistula River until late hours. Those were my favourite days.
Since 2019 and a combination of pandemic and illness, I haven’t had many opportunities to experience my favourite versions of days. I hope to be able to get back on track this year.
I GENUINELY AND RELENTLESSLY FELL IN LOVE WITH FOOTBALL
I think football gave me the feeling of being part of something bigger in the first place. Something that religion or church gives to some people. I was a very insecure kid, football gave me a chance to bite back at those who were bothering me, and on the other hand, it gave me a sense of community.
When I was in elementary school, I had a friend in my class, Erland. He had a huge collection of football jerseys that his father brought him on every business trip. I’ve been dreaming of such a collection. The substitute that we could afford were fakes from Poland, which I bought when I was in Warsaw on vacation.
I’ll never forget the joy and gratitude I felt when my mum bought me the original 1998 Italy World Cup jersey and shorts for my 9th birthday. I still have them in excellent condition to this day.
In general, I have the best memories of the years 1997-2002, the time when I genuinely and relentlessly fell in love with football. It was a time when you watched every game, learned geography by clubs, collected panini stickers, made fictional championships in notebooks or hung posters with guys who had no idea you existed on your walls.
I remember the 1998 World Cup from start to finish. I fell head over heels in love with it. This is my version of the love of football. Childish, but wholehearted.
I STARTED DRAWING REGULARLY TO TAKE MY MIND OFF IT. FOCUS ON SOMETHING OTHER THAN MY PERSISTENT THOUGHTS
I took my first steps towards illustrating during the pandemic. A group of friends and I did a drawing challenge and I was the only one who took it seriously. My girlfriend designs interiors and furniture, I saw her using Procreate on an iPad and asked her to show me how to use it, and since I’m a bit of a geek, I approached it as figuring out a program, and not learning how to draw. Thus I call myself a creator, never an artist.
Due to the isolation during lockdown, combined with an illness that caused me to have had at least one surgery a year for the last 5 years, I was diagnosed with depression. I don’t remember the breakthrough moment, I think it was a process, but at some point, I started drawing regularly to take my mind off it. It was a chance to focus on something other than my own persistent thoughts. Before, I could stare at the wall aimlessly for hours until the next day of work came. Not that I loved working, but I had something to fill my time and occupy my thoughts.
When I create, I am mainly inspired by my childhood memories or feelings related to a given player, club or match. I’m interested in facial expressions and how to render them in the most minimalist way possible and I’m often inspired by new tools that I discover.
I don’t know if I have a certain style yet, although recently in England, I was told that I have a pop art style. Is that the case? I have no idea. It’s one of those things that I’ll leave to the audience to define. Anyway, I’m just doodling, I’m glad and at the same time, it’s hard to believe that it can catch someone’s attention, not to mention someone liking it.
With my work, I’d say I have 2-3 proven methods that I use, but there was a time when I couldn’t stop experimenting. I’ve had that in my life too. There’s so much to try that I can’t focus 100% on anything because I feel like something else will get away forever.
EVEN THOUGH YOUR WORLD MAY FALL APART, IT CAN BE GLUED TOGETHER AND SOMETHING NEW, DIFFERENT, AND BETTER CAN BE CREATED IN THE PROCESS
I will be eternally grateful for the El Phenomenon project with A Store Like 94. I don’t know if I would have motivated myself to paint, and as usual, I had to complicate it with my concept. Nevertheless, creating this image often pulled me out of my downs, because the message was also important to me:
Even though your world may fall apart, it can be glued together and something new, different, and better can be created in the process.
I really like working on all kinds of retro graphics. Especially the ones I adored when I was a kid. I draw with a smile on my face and a million memories in my head. Retro Polish footballers are also a pleasant topic for me. Especially since I returned to Poland only in 2000.
In Belgium, there were not many opportunities to follow Polish football, or at least I did not have any. I would watch Eurogoals on Eurosport to follow it as much as I could or from sports magazines that I bought at bazaars during my holidays in Poland.
Interestingly, a lot of graphics that I’m personally happy with are not popular on my social media profile at all. But it works both ways, I didn’t expect the popularity of some of them at all – for example, the one with Daft Punk, I literally drew it on the last day of sick leave after one of the surgeries. That was the first moment when my drawings were shared more broadly. For a few days, I got requests to put it up for sale, it was a total abstraction.
I’VE SEEN TOO MANY GUYS COLLAPSE COMPLETELY WITHOUT PROPER HELP
Drawing has become a valve for me and ultimately, I would like to be able to help others through it.
My dream, my ultimate plan, let’s say, is to set up a foundation that, by combining the art and culture of football, will be able to raise awareness of the importance of mental health, motivate people to check on their friends, break taboos and support young men.
I would like to organise meetings, tournaments, and exhibitions to raise funds to help. Maybe go into video and do interviews with people in the world of football about it, remove the taboo. I know what I missed/lacked in dealing with my problems. I would like to help others in this regard.
I hope that eventually, I will be able to raise funds for therapies for those in need by selling graphics and clothes with football motifs. I’ve seen too many guys collapse completely without proper help. And this help is unfortunately not cheap.
I can’t see a chance for a “serious” career as a graphic designer. I’m always embarrassed if someone wants to pay for my doodles. I mean, that’s cool, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to doodle for pleasure. I don’t need and don’t want to have two jobs.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE ONLY THING LEFT FOR US TO DO IS UNDERSTAND THE PEOPLE AND CONNECTIONS WE’VE MADE
I used to be super into movies, I used to consume a lot of content. There was a moment when I enjoyed discovering gems that no one had heard of. I had a very long period of fascination with Korean cinema. Of course, the passion remained, but the motivation to dig over time has diminished.
In addition, my girlfriend got me into design, and that includes everything from public spaces, through architecture, to furniture. Modernism and brutalism in particular appeals to me, although I would not be able to create anything in these styles myself.
Due to my own experience, I am interested in psychology and stress control mechanisms. I also like to just listen to people and their interesting stories. At the end of the day, the only thing left for us to do is to understand the people and connections we’ve made.
All our thanks to the legend that is Rychter for his time.
To learn more about his work you can follow him on Instagram here.