Artist Statement:
Vibrant colours, powerful expression, and dynamic composition along with great imagination create works of amazing depth and dimension to intrigue and disarm the viewer. This is but one way to describe the paintings of Stefan Fiedorowicz.
Stefan Fiedorowicz is an abstract contemporary artist from British Columbia Canada now residing in Europe. He began painting seriously eight years ago and has been painting full time since leaving the public service in 2002, where he practiced social work for twenty two years. He is also a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and has Active Status. Born and raised in Ontario, Montreal and Victoria, BC, he comes from a family of European descent.
I am committed to abstraction. Marc Rothko, Paul Klee and Hans Hoffman influenced my artistic endeavours. If I wanted to depict representational reality, I would have chosen photography, but I am a colourist, who uses color to convey something personal and internal. I use texture through oils applied with a scraper to depict emotion. I do not know what my fascination with oils is. It may be how the paint is applied and how it mixes so well on the canvas. My images originate in fragments of personal and cultural history. With allusion and visual suggestion comes artistic meaning. The emotion in my work comes from somewhere deep down, and can speak to the inter part of each person. In the spirit of abstraction, the perceiver is free to interpret each piece as she or he wishes. I’ve found that a good painting is one you can internalize, one in which a given element, or the work as a whole, means something special to you – perhaps in ways you might not admit to another person.
During my university years, I studied the history of art and soon discovered my passion for creating art when I began painting colourful oil on canvas. My paintings have an overall gestural and abstract quality. Why I choose certain objects to paint and how I illustrate them is a mystery to me. I do not think about it too much. Certain objects are close to me because of what they mean to me or what they look like, their shape. I simplify them and sometimes combine them into pleasing arrangements. I like working over the canvas surface over and over again because most of the time I am not sure of what I want, especially my abstracts done with thick colourful oils and wall scrapers.
For me art is a journey, one step at a time. One word, one drip of paint, one musical note. For me it has always been the journey and not the destination. There is nothing hugely complex in my abstract art. Just getting an idea is very exciting, as I think about certain shapes and their relationship with each other. I can see shapes, colours, lines, etc. and as I work I feel their need to come together in a composition. I will get a snapshot in my mind and the end result often turns out to be something different from what I first hand in mind.
My work is intuitive; colour is the language that I use to express an emotion. It is the interaction of colour that interests me. My style involves contrasting aspects of the simplicity of daily life to the complexity of the human condition. Hopefully my work elicits emotional responses and vividly expresses my passion for art and life.
Vital Statistics -
BORN: 1952, Canada
EDUCATION:
Camosun College, Victoria, BC 1970-73
University of Victoria, Bachelor of Arts, 1977
University of Saskatchewan, TEFL Certificate 2003
University of Saskatchewan,CERTESL Certificate 2005
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibition,.Parhamerplatz, Vienna, Austria, Nov 2008
Solo Exhibition, at the Galerie Kandinsky, Vienna, Dec 2008
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
St. Dogmaels Gallery, Wales, UK, August 2008
Marizart Galerie, Hamburg, Germany, June 2008
Portico Gallery, Manchester, March 2007
Die Galerie, Arsnova, Benefitz Austellung, Innsbruck, Dec 2006
Die Galerie Arsnova & Wenisch, Innsbruck, Nov 2006
Agora Gallery, New York City, NY, Sept 2006
Blyth Gallery, Manchester, UK, 2006
Rendezvous Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2005
The Shadow Box Art Gallery, Kamloops, 2005
Main Street Gallery, Sidney, BC, 2004
Shuswap Festival of the Arts, 2004
Artists Studio & Gallery, 2004
Kamloops Juried Art Show, 2004
Honourable Mention Kamloops Juried Art Show, 2003
Kamloops Art Gallery Auction Gala Event, Oct. 2003
Kamloops Art Gallery Auction ,2002
Kamloops Art Gallery Original Auction Gala Event, 2001
Kamloops Art Gallery Auction Event, Sept 1999
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Almiro Gallery, Liverpool, March 2007
Sargfabrik, Vienna, December 2006-January 2007
Galerie Lackner, Wiener Neustadt, Austria, Dec 2006
Galerie Claudiana, Innsbruck, Austria 2006
Galerie Heinrich, Vienna ,Austria, December 2005
Cunliffe House November 2004, Kamloops BC
Okanagan Wine Festival, Penticton, BC, Oct. 2003
Okanagan Fest of Ales, Pentiction, BC, 2003
Okanagan Wine and Art Festival, Penticton, 2002
Kamloops Art Gallery, Private Solo Exhibition, June 2002
Okanagan Wine and Art Festival, Kelowna, 2001
Penticton Okanagan Wine and Art Festival, 2001
Okanagan Wine and Art Festival, 2001
Kamloops Wine and Art Festival, 2001
Publications -
OMMA Centre of Contempoarary Art
