JAN DOBKOWSKI

1942
I was born in Lomza on June 8.

1956-1961
I attended the High School of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

1962-1968
I studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art, first in the studio of Juliusz Studnicki, then in that of Jan Cybis

1963
I produced a series of about thirty linocuts meant as a graphic counterpart of Apollinaire’s “Bestiare”, and as a tentative alternative to Dufy’s illustrations. This work marked a change in my manner of painting.

1965
I painted smooth-surface paintings in which figures and objects took on the form of coloured silhouettes. The range of colours was limited to a few tones only, laid on in unicolour patches.

1967-1970
Joint displays of Jan Dobkowski and Jerzy (Jurry) Zielinski, known as the Neo-Neo-Neo Group.

1967
The only colours I used were red, blue, yellow and black. In some of my works, based on photographs, the shape of a figure was accompanied by something resembling an X-ray, with the skeleton showing through.

1968
The first red-and-green picture “A Double Girl” (now in the Guggenheim Museum). Also, an exhibition at the Swea Gallery in Stockholm where I became known as the “flower children” painter.

1969
A large set of red-and-green pictures, all the same size (200x150 cm). I worked on a group of figures under a joint title “Summer Continued”, cut in flaxboard, painted red and green: multibreast women, apple-women, bird-women, pear-women, and the like. They were meant for an outdoor display in winter scenery, put side by side with some machinery in order to achieve the effect of contrast between natural objects and man-made appliances.

1970
I participated in the “Wroclaw 70” Symposium. I designed a model on the scale of 1 : 20 of “The World’s Circulatory System”, a red-and-green neon, parts of which were to plunge into the ground and then rise up to the surface, encircling the whole globe. The heart of this circulation was to beat in Wroclaw while the rest was left to our imagination. My first one-man show at the “A” Gallery in Gniezno, consisted, among other works, of figures cut out of fine foil and squeezed tightly between glass panes: the figures, were spotlit and cast big shadows on the walls.

1971
I participated in the 11th Art Biennale in Sao Paulo.

1972
I was granted the Kosciuszko Foundation scholarship and spent nine months in the United States. Exhibitions: the Bodley gallery and the Benson Gallery where, at a joint display of Polish and American painters, I presented figures cut out of coloured perspex plates: a one-man show of red-and-green pictures in Warsaw’s Wspolczesna (Contemporary) Gallery and an exhibition in Chelm, with which the Activity of Gallery ’72 was inaugurated.

1973
During a summer school at Osieki I made 118 figures representing fish-women and fry, then thrown into the waters of the biologically dead Lake Jamno. I also took part in the Biennale of the Young in Paris, the X Biennale International d’Art in Menton, and had a one-man-show at the Gunter Gallery in Los Angeles.

1974
The “First-born”, consisting of 50 figures made of coloured perspex, were shown first outdoors and then in the Wspolczesna Gallery in Warsaw.

1975
During a summer school in Bialowieza I did my first romantic landscape drawings in ink devoid of human shapes or erotic touches. I also painted pictures with a black background because “black provides the depth against which light figures are well set off.” I also showed my work at a one-man show at the Zapiecek Gallery in Warsaw and contributed to an exhibition entitled “The Critics’ Recommendation”.

1976
Only blue and red were in use. “Red is vivid while blue appears to convey a sense of distance and eternity”. I also drew a lot.

1977
A trip to Egypt. The colours still the same, blue and red.

1978
A retrospective show of paintings, drawings and three-dimensional forms, for which I was granted the Cyprian Kamil Norwid Award of the Critics.

1979
A series of portrait drawings of my daughter Marianna and a set of perspex toys for her. The “Marianna” exhibition at the Critics’ Gallery in Warsaw. The Sculpture Gallery in Warsaw showed my installation “Line and Space”.

1980
“Eroticon” was the joint title of a number of figurative drawings with linear structures in the background and of pictures in which the figurative drawings were in red and the surrounding space in black. I also arranged an installation called “The Riverside”: at night I demarcated the natural line of the banks of the River Narew by placing burning kerosene containers along the river. Thus I made use of all the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. The installation, which was several hundred meters long, could be seen in full from the Lomza escarpment.

1981
I painted a set of pictures entitled “Either-Or”, devoted to a conceived child, using only two colours: blue and green, which gradually blended with each other. The sole figurative element was “the embryo growing bigger and bigger with every subsequent picture to reflect the growth of the foetus in its mother’s womb.: The series was exhibited in Warsaw one month before my son Maxymilian was born.

1982
I went on with multicoloured structural pictures. In some of them references to material law can be detected. No public shows.

1983
“The Space Landscape”, a set of multicoloured linear cosmic structural images (exhibited in Lage, West Germany). I also participated in the “Sign of the Cross” exhibition in the Church of the Lord’s Mercy in Warsaw.

1984-1985
A series called “Threnodies”: colour streaks laid on dark, black and navy-blue backgrounds. Their rhythm was broken so that dark signs emerged and rose up from the background. This is what I called PAINTED WITH THE UNPAINTED. I travelled in France and Italy. Exhibitions: the Studio Gallery in Warsaw, the Meissner Galerie in Hamburg, and the Pennsylvania State University (USA)

1986
I participated in the Eur-Asia Art Biennale where my works were considered an outrage and an affront to propriety, scandalizing the public opinion both from the artistic and moral viewpoint. I also composed a series of drawings entitled “Icarus”, close in content and form to “Threnodies”. Besides this I began to work on a series entitled “Genesis”. It is a series in which the creation of a drawing was simultaneous with the process of my becoming aware of the emergence of my world of art, in which the emergence of the Earth and Cosmos, and then cultures and human emotions, is important. Genesis is a reflection upon the ever-changing world. I try to travel as much as possible in order to learn as much as I can about the world of nature and different civilizations, as both are an inspiration to my art. Travelling also helps me view what is happening in my country from a distance. I travelled to Spain, after which colour in my paintings became strongly intensified.

1986-1987
I took a four-five-month trip to Latin America. I visited Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and Cuba. On board I proceeded with “Genesis” and began a series of water-colours entitled “The Ocean”.

1988
Two series, “Icarus” and “Genesis” were shown at the Studio Gallery in Warsaw. New large pictures were added to “The Ocean”.

1988-1989
Another one-month trip to Brazil, Argentina, the Canary Islands and Marocco. I produced a series of drawings entitled “Orgies and Ritual Dances”, stylistically somewhat reminiscent of my earlier drawings, featuring genuine ludicrous behaviour still surviving in the world, calling up images of ancient cultures and rites. Through this set, just like “Genesis” and “The Ocean”, I expressed my desire to stay away from the brutality and catastrophism trends of today’s world.

1990
A trip to Greece, Israel and Finland. I painted quite a lot. Many references to ancient cultures as well as to my earlier series. I constructed pictures of light and colours, e.g. “Venus of Rio”, “The Oceanids”, “Glaring Gea”. “The Ocean” was displayed at the Pokaz (Show) Gallery in Warsaw and the drawings were exhibited at the Labyrinth Gallery in Lublin.

1990-1991
An exhibition in the Warsaw Archdiocese Museum. I participated in the 23rd International Painting Festival in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, receiving the Critics’ Award.

1992
One-man show of paintings entitled “The Ocean”, at Marta Tarabula’s Zderzak Gallery in Cracow. The “Elementary Lirycs” series of drawings was an attempt at presenting the theory of my art in pictures. One-man show of paintings “…and Life Goes on…” at the Studio Gallery in Warsaw. I painted the “Holy Land” series of water-colours in which I sought to pinpoint the expression of eternal metaphysical light. In my later water-colours I examined the relation between space and matter on a micro-and macrocosmic scale, in which I relied on the changing appearance of intensity of light and colour.

1993
Exibition at Poznan’s “Arsenal”. I painted the “Spring” series of paintings, exhibited at the Ars Polona Gallery in Warsaw. The series was continued in a series of drawings in pencil on hand-made paper. At the Audiovisual Studio of the Studio Arts Centre I completed a series of computer graphics entitled “Seven Milliard Squares”. Daughter Marianna was admitted to the Hoffmanowa Grammar School in Warsaw.

1994
I attended the opening of my individual painting and drawing exhibition at the Institute of Polish Culture in Stockholm. I took part in the “Ars Erotica” exhibition in the National Museum in Warsaw. I completed the “Dance of Life” painting. My paintings and perspex forms of 1970-94 exhibited at the “LOVE & LIVE” exhibition at the Artist’s House in Warsaw. I was awarded the Jan Cybis Prize for my artistic work. The NEO-NEO-NEO exhibition was organised by the National Museum in Warsaw and the Zacheta Gallery of Contemporary Art. Two paintings, “A Mountain in the Ocean” and “Between Light and Shade”, were presented at the “Warsaw-Düsseldorf” exhibition in Düsseldorf. I completed the “Sounds” series of paintings, and expression of my love of music as both abstract and metaphysical art. The Zderzak Gallery published a volume of Apollinaire’s “Bestiaire” with my linocuts of 1963. The publication was accompanied by a show of my original linocuts for the “Bestiaire”.

1995
Professor Janusz Bogucki opens my “Genesis” exhibition at the Artist’s House in Warsaw, organized on the occasion of awarding me the Jan Cybis Prize. I showed my “Sounds” series at the 6th International Drawing Triennale in Wroclaw and my “Holy Land” drawing series at the Critic’s Gallery Pokaz (Show) in Warsaw. I went to the beautiful island of Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea together with my wife Maja, daughter Marianna and son Maxymilian. I painted a new series of “Simultaneous Images”, their surfaces comprising ideas devised between the early stage of my life and today. Shown together, they bring time to a stop. What used to be, is, and will be comes to a halt within the unitime of my existence. Professor Janusz Bogucki-my protector in art-died.

1996
I continued painting my “Simultaneous Images”. My wife and myself went to Sofia to my solo show of paintings and drawings at the Institute of Polish Culture in Sofia. Richard Noyce’s album “Contemporary Painting in Poland” including a comprehensive  essay on my painting and several reproductions, appeared.

@Jan Dobkowski, 1996