17 April - 10 May 2015 (both rooms)
vernissage: Friday, 17 April, 6 pm

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The exhibition shows a collection of paintings and drawings spanning forty years of creative activity of an artist originally associated with the Katowice milieu, and now living and working for several years in Bielsko-Biała.

Janusz Karbowniczek was born in 1950 in Przemyśl. He studied at the Faculty of Graphic Arts in the Katowice branch of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. He obtained his degree in 1975, which he defended in the Department of Poster headed by Professor Tadeusz Grabowski and the Department of Books headed by Professor Stanisław Kluska. He has taught in his alma mater since 1977, currently holding the position of professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Katowice and heading the Department of Drawing.

He has organized 60 solo exhibitions of painting and drawing and participated in over 300 exhibitions in Poland and abroad.
Numerous awards, including two at the National Exhibition of Painting "Bielska Jesień" held in Galeria Bielska BWA (1979 - Medal, 1989 - Silver Medal); Second Prize at the exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints "Hope is in us" in Poznań (1985); First Prize at the Winter Salon in Radom (1987); Grand Prix for the Work of the Year '93, Gallery Art-Nova 2, Katowice (1994); the Award of the Radom District Museum at the Self-Portrait Triennale in Radom (2006), Medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis (2013).

Inspired by the historic theme of Sacra Conversatione (Sacred Conversation), the exhibition emphasizes the relevance of dialogue as a means for better understanding between individuals. This cultural dialogue is held at a number of parallel levels - the historical level, where it provides a platform for reinterpreting tradition; at the psychological level where it serves as a means of dialogue with the recipient; and at the "border crossing" level, where it is perceived as dialogue with the world, with the present, with the absolute. The theme of dialogue has "always" been present in my work, acting as a universal means of exchanging values, seeking the meaning of life and exploring ideas in both human and supernatural dimensions. Dialogue enables us to find the role and place of an individual living in the globalized world, in times of revolt and oblivion.
Providing a meeting place and an opportunity for communication, Dialogue shifts us to the final period of artistic experience when the work of art becomes reality, breaks away from the past and interacts with the public. In the intentional space of the gallery, the work of art assumes the role of the artist whilst taking responsibility for one and independently performing the final act of the play with the audience.

Janusz Karbowniczek

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