pastel / paper
50 x 70 cm
signed l.d.: Jan Dobkowski, dated p.d.: 1993 YEAR.
Jan Dobkowski (Lomza 8 VI 1942 - ) studied 1962-1968 at the Faculty of Painting of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts under Prof. Juliusz Studnicki and Jan Cybis. While still a student, in 1966, he formed an artistic duo, with Jerzy (Jurry) Zieliński as his partner. Their first joint exhibition, entitled Neo-Neo-Neo, took place in Warsaw in 1967, and they exhibited together until 1970. Dobkowski's debut took place at the moment of the apogee of the counterculture of the 1960s, which is not without significance for the meaning and character of his works. In 1968, Dobkowski's first green and red paintings (using the pseudonym Dobson at the time) were created. At the time, the artist was interested in the biology of growth, expressed in the constant transformations of the profiles of the human body, shown in surprising configurations. At the time, profiles suggesting fragments of human bodies were filled with a solid color, usually red, placing them on a green background. Implicit in this biomorphic art, lined with eroticism, was a longing for love and uninhibited sexuality. The artist regarded eroticism as the most powerful, positive vital force that drives life. In 1971ku won a gold medal at the Golden Grape Symposium in Zielona Gora. In 1972, he traveled to the US for nearly a year on a Kosciuszko Foundation scholarship. A marked change in the mood and meaning of his works came with the events of 1980-1981, especially the imposition of martial law. At that time, he marked monochromatic, dark canvases with faint, limp lines of drawing. The most common motifs were patriotic and religious symbols. Another radical change occurred around 1990. In parallel with painting, Dobkowski works on drawing, which is a very important complement to his work.
