Damon Kowarsky: Polis

Advance Press Release

Damon Kowarsky: Polis
15 July - 8 August

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Rawalpindi I, Damon Kowarsky Medium: Watercolour & Gouache on Wasli Paper. 2008

Polis, an exhibition of etchings and miniature paintings by Australian artist Damon Kowarsky, opens at Solander: works on paper at 5:30pm, Wednesday 15 July.

Polis suggests a city without referring to any particular one. Kowarsky reveals that the images are inspired by visits to cities in Australia, India, Mexico and Pakistan, places ancient and modern, first and developing world, familiar and completely unknown.

"My interest in architecture grew out of an interest in the figure in the landscape, where the landscape was that of the urban environment, the city." Kowarsky says. The etchings of cityscapes on the cusp of night feature Kowarsky's fluid lines, with a dark aquatint creating tone and atmosphere. The miniature paintings painstakingly produced in watercolour and gouache are on wasli, a handmade paper formed by bonding together layers of thin paper, then burnished smooth with a cowry shell.

Kowarsky will be in Wellington for the exhibition opening and on one of his last stops on a Toyota Community Spirit Artist Travel Award, which enabled him to take part in residencies in Spain and Cairo earlier this year. He has been the recipient of a number of awards and has widely exhibited Internationally.

ENDS

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