Andrzej S. Kowalski (1930 Sosnowiec - 2004 Katowice), Untitled, 1963

Biography
Painter, graphic artist, writer, essayist, publicist and educator. Professor of the Cracow branch of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. Graduated from the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in 1955, receiving diplomas: painter under Adam Marczyński and graphic artist under Ludwik Gardowski. Member of the Cracow Group, Zagłębie and Arkat groups. Active participant in the anti-communist opposition. His work includes easel painting, wall painting, mosaics, drawing and printmaking. In his painting and graphic works since the late 1950s, organic, free forms of spots with characteristic color tones (browns and yellows and olive greens and grays), composed with a consistent order of geometry, intermingle. The painter's intuitive resolutions are complemented by a clear rational element. Over time, he began to introduce geometric or figural motifs into his compositions. In the 1980s he was strongly associated with the independent culture movement. He exhibited his works at home and abroad. The artist's works are in the collections of, among others, the BWA Gallery of Contemporary Art in Katowice, the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the Museum of History of Katowice, the Archdiocesan Museum in Katowice, the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom and numerous private collections. "The paintings of the young Pole Kowalski, composed as a rule along the vertical axis, show a thoroughbred painter, gifted with the ability to prepare unusual colors, create a warm yet subtle atmosphere and, at the same time, distinguished by an engaging restraint... This painting, sophisticated but discreet, will certainly appeal to those who appreciate moderation and like sophisticated and unpretentious color consonances..." - Michel Courtois wrote about the exhibition at the Lambert Gallery in the pages of the Parisian magazine Arts 30 (Andrzej S. Kowalski, ed. J. Trzupek, Katowice 2013, p. 41).