Antoni Karwowski - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Antoni Karwowski – born on 14.04.1948 in Grajewo

Grajewo

Grajewo , is a town in north-eastern Poland with 23,302 inhabitants .It is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship ; previously, it was in Łomża Voivodeship...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. Polish lyrical abstraction

Lyrical Abstraction

Lyrical Abstraction is either of two related but distinctly separate trends in Post-war Modernist painting, and a third definition is the usage as a descriptive term. It is a descriptive term characterizing a type of abstract painting related to Abstract Expressionism; in use since the 1940s...

and neofiguration painter and performance artist.

Early life & family

He was raised in small town in Eastern Poland, surrounded by one of the largest Nature Parks in Europe Biebrza National Park

Biebrza National Park

Biebrza National Park is a national park in Podlaskie Voivodeship, northeastern Poland, situated along the Biebrza River.The largest of Poland’s 23 National Parks, the Biebrza National Park was created on September 9, 1993...

. His father, Jozef Karwowski, was social worker and promoter of culture and mother Larysa (maiden name Zub) a hairdresser. Antoni is an eldest child in the family (younger brother Maciej).

He was growing up in multigenerational family under strong influence of his father and Russian grandfather (Szymon Zub). A first lesson in drawing was given to him by his father. This as well as contact with his creative grandfather who was writing poems and singing old Russian songs, created primary impulse which decided about his future career choices. Co-inherence of Polish and Russian culture and traditions, growing up surrounded by wild nature influenced his sensitivity and strengthened his strong feeling of individualism expressed in his art and relations with the surroundings.

Painting

After graduating high school Antoni started painting more and experimenting with different forms of art. He was changing homes and universities several times, while looking for a place where he could fully use and develop his talents. Unsuccessful he worked in the mines. Later he joined the Fine Arts Faculty at the University of Torun, where he developed his talents and became a professional artist.

In early 80s Antoni together with Zbigniew Oleszynski started Group “A”, which realized multiple performance projects in Poland. Since then he has gotten heavily engaged in performance art. As participant as well as organizer he participated in various projects. Since 2003 Antoni organizes the International Performance & Intermedia Festival in Szczecin

Szczecin

Szczecin , is the capital city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of June 2009 the population was 406,427....

.

Throughout his career Antoni has created his own style of which an art critic from Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

says: „...From his images comes colorful light, which is created by perfection in his workshop. Metaphor of this light gives magical, surreal meaning to figurative elements in his paintings. The power of his paintings, aside from illuminating colors, comes from the richness of symbolic meanings and certain multilayer by which Antoni’s paintings are far from simple decorative function.”

Antoni’s paintings intrigue, seduce with color and light. Understanding them takes time and closer contact with them, only then do they show the full scope of ways of expression he uses. His paintings have started to be collected in various private collections in Europe. He has also been commissioned by compound corporations and institutions, e.g. in 2005 he was commissioned by Clinic in Dortmund (Germany) to create large size wall panels (53m long) which are exhibited there since and which still receive a lot of attention from broad audience.
Art Exhibitions:

2010 - "Anders Gallery"-Lünen (Germany)

2007 – "Anders Gallery"-Lünen (Germany)

2007 - "ZERO Gallery"- Berlin (Germany)

2006 - Museum of Art - Santa Fe (Argentina)

2006 - Museum Contemporary Art – Naples (Italy)

2005 - "Galerie automatique", Berlin-Strasbourg

2005 - Art Platform, Tel - Aviv (Israel)

2005 - Polish Art Fair 2005, Poznan (Poland)

2004 – Project „MOTION"- Berlin (Germany)

2003 - V International Baltic Biennial – Szczecin (Poland)

2002 - Berliner Landtag – Berlin (Germany)

2002 - „Distance 777” - 68elf gallery – Köln (Germany)

2001 - Europäisches Kulturzentrum, Köln (Germany)

2001 – “Kunst am limit” -"Pussy Galore"- Berlin (Germany)

2001 - "RAUMTRIEB 2001", art festival – Berlin (Germany)

2001 – Wystawa malarstwa,„Reimus gallery" Essen (Germany)

1999 - Ostholstein Museum – Eutin (Germany)

1999 - Galerie am Domplatz – Münster (Germany)

1999 - National Museum in Szczecin (Poland)

1996 – “Forum Ost – West” – Bergisch Gladbach (Germany)

1994 - "Anders Gallery"-Lünen (Germany)

1994 - „Forum Gallery" – Leverkusen (Germany)

1993 – “Cztery Zywioly” – Museum, Greifswald (Germany)

1992 - "Gaia Cztery Sezony"- Gerlesborg (Sweden)

1992 - Municipal Gallery - Nakskov (Denmark)

1990 - „En Garde Gallery" - Aarhus (Denmark)

1988 - „Fine Art Gallery"-Trollhattan (Sweden)

1988 - XV Festival of Polish Contemporary Art,- Szczecin (Poland)

1987 - "Bridge West & East" Antwerpen (Belgium)

1985 - "Nagra Malare"-Vanersborg (Sweden)

1981 – “Palacyk”, Wroclaw (Poland)

Selected Performance projects:

2011 - La Porta 2011, Barcelona (Spain)]

2010 - "My Tram", Szczecin (Poland)http://www.rhiz.eu/artefact-50681-en.html

2010 - "Extension Series 2", Grim Museum 2, Berlin (Germany)

2005 - "Reading White Books ", Tel Aviv (Israel)

2001 - "Salz arm", Berlin (Germany)

1998 - “Sentimental trip on east" - Moltkerei Werkstatt, Cologne (Germany)

1998 - "Middle ages anatomy" & "Gilgamesz – Enkind’s Dream” - Ermelerspeicher Gallery, Schwedt, (Germany)

1993 - "The Last Breath of Aborigine” – Gerlesborg (Sweden)

1981 - "Koncert na Kaprala i grzalke" Teatr Otwarty "Kalambur" – Wroclaw (Poland)

1980 – Public Space Action ”My Tram” –Torun (Poland)

Cultural Projects involvement:

2003 - 2009 Curator international Performance & Intermedia festival – Szczecin (Poland)

2002 - 2005 Co-organizer international performance project “Private impact”

1995 - 1999 Originator International Performance festival "Trawnik" (Poland – Germany)

1992 - 1994 Co-organizer international project "Gaia the four elements"

1981 - 1986 Organized and kept Centre of Art in Swinoujscie (Poland)

1980 - 1981 Cooperated as artist with Open Theatre Centre "Kalambur" in Wroclaw (Poland)

External links

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