Born
in Poland, in the historic town of Brzeg, Andrzej grew up during the years of
political oppression and era of communist Poland. There he attended the School
for the Arts and Literature. Unconsciously, these primary years were the
platform for a deep attraction towards peace, poetry and art as a form of
creative preservation.
In
1984, Andrzej moved to New York and continued his education at the School for
the Arts at Jersey City State University. While he was earning his a BFA in
painting, Andrzej had the opportunity to explore everything from sculpture to
printmaking, drawings to graphic art. These years were pivotal processing
years. Much of his art was more about pain than the serene beauty his current
paintings convey. At the end of the 5 year BFA program, Andrzej had developed a
strong discipline in the studio that is reflected in his prolific artistic
nature today. After receiving his BFA in painting, Andrzej earned a Master's
Degree and Honorary Award in the field of Urban Architecture from the
University of Pennsylvania. Architectural design taught him to observe and
imitate nature through new media. The rigorous nature of the field transformed
Andrzej’s creative approach away from objectifying the world and towards
autonomy through painting.
After
relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1994, Andrzej's artistic direction began
to take shape after integrating Eastern spirituality into his artwork. For him,
Eastern Spirituality and forms of Zen, mediation and Buddhism was closer to
seeing world as beautiful rather than violent as he has in his early years. Andrzej's
artistic philosophy led him to resume his academic work at the California
Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where, in 2011, he received a
Masters in Integral Psychology and a certification in Expressive Art Therapy.
While Andrzej’s
current studio is based in Berkeley, his paintings are currently exhibited Los
Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas, New York, Boston, Paris,
London and Hong Kong. His work is in private collections throughout the United
States.
How do you describe your style?
My artistic
direction began to take shape after integrating Eastern spirituality into my
artwork. My recent paintings have become Cosmocentric and see man and art as an
integral part of nature. These concepts are based on Buddhist philosophy and
works with an intention of equanimity that is neither a thought nor an emotion.
In Buddhism, equanimity (upekkhā, upekṣhā)
is one of the four immeasurables and is considered the steady conscious
realization of reality's transience. While some may think of equanimity as dry
neutrality or cool aloofness, mature equanimity produces a radiance and warmth
of being.
There is a push
and pull that develops in my paintings, one color at a time. Each step is an inspiration for the
next. My composition develops freely allowing my paintings to form from the
depths of the creative process. The essence of each work carries its own unique
direction. While they are often identified as Abstract paintings, I see them less as abstractions but more as
connections. Each stroke builds upon the other producing a radiance and warmth
of being. The layers of each work suggest a complex inter-connectivity of man’s
own marking with nature. With this
approach, a unique network of color and organic lines develop a contemporary
language defining the nature of man’s own being.
