About
"My commitment," Bogdan wrote, "has always been to figurative art. Living things working, playing, even dreaming. But at the same time, I want to bring to figurative art an energy of shape and color that has nothing to do with traditional landscape or portraiture.
"Do the paintings have a story? I don't know. I'm curious myself about what's going on. I think a lot about my paintings, but not while I'm doing them. I want to let them go, not force my intention, follow whatever happens.
"When I start a painting there's little sketch or plan. A small painting can be worked and reworked for as long as five years. The landscape is first, often with no line of horizon. Strong, clear colors come straight from the tube.The mixing is done when one color is laid on lop of another, separated by glaze. Until the people, horses, and flowers in the paintings take on a mysterious life of their own. It's a journey that can be full of surprises, certainly for me and I hope for the viewer too."
Bogdan Kostrzynski (1937-2018) was born in Warsaw, Poland. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where he was the recipient of the Gotfried von Herder Prize scholarship at the University of Fine Arts in Vienna.
In 1974 he emigrated to the United States. His first job was as a scenic artist on Saturday Night Live. Movie work followed for directors including Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, and Woody Allen. Later, he became a full-time painter living in Beacon, NY. His work has been shown in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Florida as well as in Poland, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Spain and France.
Contact
Enter your name, message, subject and return email, then press send. Paintings are available for viewing by appointment only at Bogdan's studio in Beacon, NY:
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