Stefan Fiedorowicz - Austria

'Red Bridge', acrylic on canvas, 76 x 100 cm. or 30.4" x 39.1" in.

Stefan Fiedorowicz was born in 1952 in Canada. He studied at: Camosun College, Victoria, BC from 1970-73, the University of Victoria, Bachelor of Arts, 1977, University of Saskatchewan, TEFL Certificate 2003 and University of Saskatchewan, CERTESL Certificate 2005. 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. 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.  Website: www.stefansart.com  Email:  stefanfied2004@yahoo.com

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:         Wein Gast Fachschule, Gumpoldskirchen February 2007

                                                 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

 Stefan has participated in 17 group exhibitions in various countries, among them in Manchester, Bad Fishau and New York

'Somewhere in Tuscany', acrylic on canvas, 80 x 90 cm. or 35.1" x 37.1" in.

Stefan's Statement

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 inner 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 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. I have been working on a series of contemporary European villas, which have been referred to as whimsical wonky houses. They are imaginative images encompassing rich, bold colours expressing surreal qualities.

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