Biographical Note
Sławomir Karpowicz (17 March 1952 – 4 November 2001) was born in Szczebrzeszyn. In 1973-1978 he studied at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. He graduated from the Academy at the studio of Prof. Jan Szancenbach in 1978. In 1979 he began to work at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, chairing a drawing studio, and later, as a professor, his own painting studio.
Still life is the main motif of his work, though it also contains elements of landscape and cityscape. Still life is a motif that allows him to focus on e.g. the interplay of light and shadow. These two elements are in harmony; sometimes it is just the opposite: the artist highlights their contrast. Objects making up compositions are treated in the same way. Some of them are easily recognisable and clear, whereas others are done with less attention like sketches, which makes them obscure. Selected fragments are emphasised thanks to more saturated and livelier colours. Strong substance built by the touch, a particular presence of light and shadow and screaming dominant elements bring this painting style close to the great traditions and presence of the south of Europe. The radical, cubism-forming order of composition which places his works in the area of Iberian tradition creates a new original quality of a rational encounter.
The artist displayed his works at over a dozen individual exhibitions and several dozen collective ones. He passed away in 2001. His works can be found in national collections as well as private ones in Poland and abroad.
Selected solo exhibitions:
- 1980 “Painting”, Hedstorm Galerie, Stocholm, Sweden
- 1983 “Painting”, ASP Gallery, Kraków
- 1985 “Painting”, Contemporary Art Gallery, Kraków
- 1990 “Painting”, Polish Institut, Leipzig, Germany
- 1991 “Painting”, Stawski Gallery, Kraków
- 1992 Klose-Zineman Studio, Darmstadt, Germany
- 1992 Ludva Gallery, Carmel, USA
- 1993 Ludvig Museum, Saar Louis, Germany
- 1994 Kapller Gallery, Germany
- 1995 Dominik Roztworowski Gallery, Kraków
- 1995 Landesvertretung Brandenburg, Bonn, Germany
- 1996 Ypsylon Buchladen Gallery, Frankfurt nad Menem, Germany
- 1996 ART-POL & Stawski Gallery, Kraków
- 1996 Europaischer Kulturpark Bliesbruck, Reinheim, Germany
- 1998 Dominik Roztworowski Gallery, Kraków
- 1998 “Wystawa malarstwa”, Sukiennice Gallery, Kraków
- 1998 “Wystawa malarstwa”, Contemporary Art Gallery, Zamość