Sexy SF Artist: Andrzej Michael Karwacki
When I met artist Andrzej Michael Karwacki for an informal interview over lunch and tea, I expected to get along with him. It didn’t surprise me that I liked him. What did surprise me was just how easy it was to talk about his art and to weave the discussion about his art into a general conversation about creativity and philosophy and life. A true artist lives the art that he is creating; a person true to himself expresses his authentic self in every action and conversation. I feel comfortable saying that this was the kind of person that I was speaking with.
Karwacki has an interesting history of creating art in the city. Originally from Poland, he came here via New York in 1994 and spent a considerable amount of time doing urban landscaping that beautified the city that we here call home. He has also done his own personal art, staying true not to one single style of creative expression but rather to the process of the art. He seems to hold no attachments to the final product that he makes but instead to respect the larger creative activity that making art is.
I’ve spent a lot of time lately studying the relationship between creativity and spirituality (think The Artist’s Way although that’s not the only path I’ve taken to explore the relationship between these two things). I’ve also spent a lot of time reading about energy and chakras and the balancing of all of our different needs as human beings. And what comes out of this work is an understanding of many different processes as similar to one another. The creative process, the spiritual process, the process of cultivating the self, the process of sexuality … these things all involve going deeper into one self in order to harness the power of the energy there and then to share that energy with the energy that exists in the world around you. It’s a lofty idea but basically any sort of creativity - whether it’s the making of a painting or the making of love - is really all about the process of creation itself.
Karwacki seems to have a deep understanding of this process. And of the fact that change is a necessary thing in life … he seems to be transitioning away from the type of paintings he has been doing in the past, towards a period of rest during which he will allow something new to evolve from within him. The acceptance of this process is something that is necessary for all artists to embrace but it’s something that’s not easy to come by. I’ve known many artists who cling on to their work - and many people who cling on to their lives - even when it’s really just time to let it go.
This isn’t to say that the product created by Karwacki is unimportant. His paintings are magnificent. He’s currently working on two very different types of art - figurative paintings and abstract paintings. The figurative paintings were the ones that originally caught my eye when I discovered this artist while researching local people for a post about sexy San Francisco art. These renderings of beautiful women in interesting poses atop text are the kind of images that stop you in your tracks when you are walking around a gallery and they appear in front of you. The expression in the eyes of these paintings is breathtaking … and Karwacki confirmed that he believes that it’s all in the eyes and the hands when it comes to paintings like this.
What is interesting is that the type of painting he does when making his abstract art is completely different and comes from a completely different place within him but there is still some sense of emotion that runs through many of the paintings that are done even in this style. The eyes and hands are not there in this work but the expression and motion are conveyed through color and shape and layers of depth.
When I first left the interview with the intention of writing this article, I planned on putting down into words the details of the life that the artist had described to me. It’s an interesting life and he articulates it well. But the truth is that the art is so much more than the words of the artist’s story.
This blog is about what is sexy in San Francisco. Undeniably, the products created by this artist in the form of his figure painting are visually sexy. But there’s something more than that going on underneath the surface that betrays a deeper level of sexiness within the life of this artist. Speaking with him, I got the sense that he dwells within a place inside of himself where he is aware of the limitations of his humanity and the room he has for growth and manages to both strive for that growth and accept the place where he currently is. Similarly, he seems to have an appreciation for his own art and a sense of the importance of making it but he doesn’t place an ego-serving importance on the art itself. This quiet confidence, this ongoing expression of the self and this willingness to be who he is within the greater world that contains all of humanity is something that can stop a witness in his tracks just like the paintings can. And it translates to a passion for art and a passion for life which is absolutely seductive.
Make sure to check out Karwacki’s abstract paintings over at HANG ART. He has a solo exhibition there with an opening reception on January 8th from 6-8.
*NOTE: The image above is an acrylic on birch piece by the artist which is better viewed at http://www.andrzejmichael.com/index.php/site/artwork_fig/bare_essentials/.
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