A stint as a stand-up comedian in New York City led to the inspiration for his first feature film, Ape.[5] While spending a year as a temp at a Michigan mortgage company led to the inspiration of his second feature film, Buzzard.[6] The book Walden by
Henry David Thoreau was the influence for Potrykus' 2016 feature The Alchemist Cookbook, which builds on his themes of slackers and loneliness.[7][8] His fourth feature film Relaxer, is a modern interpretation of Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel.[9] He's been the subject of retrospectives at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015[10] and at the 2016 Valdivia Film Festival.[11]
In 2024, his fifth feature film, Vulcanizadora, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, taking home a Special Jury Prize for actor Joshua Burge.[12] Chase Hutchinson of Collider said of the film, "There is no film you’ll ever see like it as it patiently builds to a terrifying explosion and then keeps going from where most would stop, leaving us to pick up the pieces that are forever shattered."[13] The film is set to have its International premiere at the
Fantasia International Film Festival on July 19, 2024.[14]
In 2016, Vimooz called Potrykus "The New King of Underground Cinema".[16] Vague Visages credits him as the originator of the new genre, "metal slackerism".[17]