Leon Tarasewicz (b. 1957), Untitled, 2018

acrylic, canvas, 130 x 100 cm, described on the back: 'L. Tarasewicz 2018 | Acrylic on canvas | 100 x 130'



Studied at the Faculty of Painting of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw from 1979 to 1984. He received his diploma in 1984 in the studio of Prof. T. Dominik. In the 1996/97 academic year, his alma mater invited him to teach at the Painting Department. He teaches there to this day, since 2011 as a professor, organizing plein-air events, workshops and joint trips to exhibitions. Back in 1984 he made his debut at Galeria Dziekanka, but it was the graduation exhibition organized at Galeria Foksal in the same year that significantly influenced his career, enabling him to have exhibitions at Galerie Nordenhake in Stockholm, Galleria del Cavallino in Venice or Galerie Nordenhake in Malmö, as well as trips to art biennales in Venice or Sao Paolo. The artist still works with Foksal Gallery.
Already during his studies he found his own way of depicting nature subjected to synthesis on the verge of abstraction. The artist's early paintings resembled landscapes, from which he gradually eliminated "unnecessary" elements, proposing a very personal version of nature. In the works of recent years, he breaks the formal limitations of painting to a space stretched on a canvas frame. He creates abstract compositions of fields and streaks of color filling large-format paintings, as well as - more and more often - paintings on gallery walls (e.g. at Konsthall, Malmö 1992, at Foksal Gallery, Warsaw 1994, at the exhibition "Art against Nature", Zachęta Gallery, Warsaw 1996). He draws inspiration from the paintings of Jerzy Nowosielski and the tradition of icons. The landscape of his native Bialystok region is also a very important inspiration for the artist.
The artist has been awarded, among others, the Passport of Polityka, the Jan Cybis Award in 2000, the Nowosielski Foundation Award, the Great Award of the Foundation of Culture (2006), and the Prof. Aleksander Gieysztor Award for special achievements in the protection of Polish cultural heritage (2018). He has had solo exhibitions at leading museums and galleries in the country, as well as in London, New York, Berlin, Venice and others. His works can be found in the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw, the National Museum in Krakow, the National Museum in Szczecin, the National Museum in Wroclaw, the Silesian Museum in Katowice, the Art Museum in Lodz, among others. Currently, he is constantly cooperating with galleries: Springer and Winckler Gallerie in Berlin and Nordenhake in Stockholm.
Leon Tarasewicz is associated with his native village of Waliły in the Bialystok region, where he actively animates artistic life by creating, among others, the Krynki Gallery. For years he has also been involved in the life of the Belarusian minority in Poland. He is president of the Association of Breeders of Ornamental Hens.