Janusz Janowski

Janusz Janowski (born September 9, 1965 in Połczyn Zdrój, Poland) is a Polish painter, jazz drummer, art theorist, from 2004 to 2006 chairman of the Artistic Council at the Board of the Association of Polish Painters and Designers (ZPAP), member of the Committee for the Kazimierz Ostrowski Award (one of the most important awards given to Polish painters). He has been related for most of his aristic life with the city of Gdańsk.

Life and activity

From 1980 to 1985 Janowski was a student at the State Artistic High School in Gdynia-Orłowo and from 1988 he studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. He graduted in 1994 under the tutelage of Prof. Maciej Świeszewski.

In the 1980s, he performed as a drummer in a band REGAŁ, opposite musicians like Jarosław Furman and Mikołaj Trzaska. In the late 1980s, he participated briefly in a musical project named "Miłość" ('Love'), run by Ryszard "Tymon" Tymański, and co-operated among others with Jerzy "Mazzoll" Mazolewski. From 1995, Janowski took part as a professional musician in the Europen Projects for Young Artists - GERMINATIONS EUROPE. In 1996 he became a member of the jazz band European Sextett, consisting of Polish, French and German musicians. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he performed opposite Ireneusz Wojtczak in the jazz band Nowy Kwartet ('New Quartet'), playing on the scenes of Tricity. He occasionally co-operated with musicians like Piotr Baron, Leszek Możdżer, Maciej Sikała, Grzegorz Nagórski, Olo Walicki, Emil Kowalski, Wojciech Staroniewicz, Leszek Kułakowski, Janusz „Macek” Mickiewicz, Leszek Dranicki, Cezary Paciorek. He has not been giving concerts since 2002.

Janowski is a co-funder of an artistic group "Stowarzyszenie Malarzy" ('The Painters' Association'), uniting artists connected with the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk. His painting "Złożenie do grobu" ('Entombment') was gifted to Pope John Paul II in Kalisz during his pilgrimage to Poland in 1997. On September 28, 2004 Janowski became one of co-funders of the Pomeranian Society for the Promotion of Arts, along with other notable personalities of the region, among others Jan Kozłowski, Paweł Huelle, Maciej Świeszewski, Janusz Limon, Adam Hlebowicz, Adam Koperkiewicz, Wojciech Bonisławski, Rev. Krzysztof Niedałtowski i Zbigniew Buski.

From 2002 he was Secretary and Art Director at the Gdańsk Branch of the Association of Polish Painters and Designers, and in 2003 he became its Vice-Chairman. In 2003 he was elected member of this Association's Artistic Committee, and in 2004 - Chairman of the Committee, until 2006, when he became Chairman of the Assciation's Gdańsk Branch.

Janowski is the curator of the ZPAP Gallery in Gdańsk, presenting the most significant works by Polish contemporary painters and sculptors (among others drawings by Prof. Kiejstut Bereźnicki, sculptures by Prof. Stanisław Gierada, ceramic by Prof. Henryk Lula, engravings by Lex Drewiński - professor of Fachhochschule Potsdam, paintings by Aldona Mickiewicz, Tadeusz Boruta, Prof. Włodzimierz Łajming and many others. Every exhibition in the ZPAP Gallery is accompanied by Janowski's interview with an artist, published by the Gdańsk Branch of the Association of Polish Painters and Designers.

Janowski has been the main coordinator of the Kazimierz Ostrowski Award since its second edition in 2003, becoming Chairman of the Award's Committee in 2006. He has managed to involve in the project numerous outstanding Polish art historians, critics and philophers who performed as jurors (among others Prof. Maria Poprzęcka, Prof. Wiesław Juszczak, Prof. Władysław Stróżewski). Janowski has been curator of the Kazimierz Ostrowski Award winners' exhibitions (Kiejstut Bereźnicki, Jacek Sempoliński, Stefan Gierowski, Maciej Świeszewski, Władysław Jackiewicz).

Since 2003, within the frames of the Gdańsk Branch of the Association of Polish Painters and Designers, he has co-organized a series of exhibitions and publications entitled "Ocalić od zapomnienia" ('To Save From Oblivion'), the aim of which is to preserve memory on the output of outstanding artists of the Gdańsk region. He was curator of exhibitions of works by Wiesław Markowski (died 2003), Roman Usarewicz (died 2004) and Maksymilian Kasprowicz (died 2005).

In March 2006, on the first anniversary of death of Pope John Paul II, Janowski took part in an exhibition "Polish Artists In Honor Of Pope John Paul II", which took place in Warsaw.

In 2006, Janowski participated as a consulting editor in publishing of the Polish edition of Donald Kuspit's book "The End of Art", which accompanied the art exhibition "New Old Masters" in the Abbots' Palace - the Contemporary Art Department of the National Museum in Gdańsk.

Exhibitions

* 1991 - SCK Gallery, Starogard Gdański
* 1992 - CAS Gallery, Połczyn-Zdrój
* 1993 - FORUM, Norderstedt, Germany
* 1994 - Hamburg, Germany
* 1996 - Gallery EL Artistic Center, Elbląg
* 1997 - CAS Gallery, Połczyn-Zdrój
* 2001 - PGS Gallery, Sopot
* 2002 - ZPAP Gallery, Gdańsk
* 2004 - ZPAP Gallery, Toruń
* 2005 - ZPAP Gallery, Gdańsk
* 2006 - "Artyści polscy Papieżowi Janowi Pawłowi II" (Polish Artists In Honor Of Pope John Paul II) - Arts and Crafts Institute, Warsaw
* 2006 – "Delegaci ZPAP 2006" (ZPAP Deleguees 2006) - DAP–ZPAP Gallery, Warsaw
* 2007 – "Spadkobiercy Rembrandta" (Heirs of Rembrandt) – Exhibition of artists from the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, Rev. Dr Władysław Łęga Museum, Grudziądz
* 2007 – "Spadkobiercy Rembrandta" (Heirs of Rembrandt) – Exhibition of artists from the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, Museum in Kwidzyn
* 2007 - "Spadkobiercy Rembrandta" (Heirs of Rembrandt) – EL Gallery, Elbląg
* 2007 – "Rembrandts erven erben" – Rathaus Wardenburg, Wardenburg, Germany

Discography

* 1998 - „Suita Europejska”, Germany

Awards

* 2004 - Scholarship for the Creators of Culture; Pomeranian Voivodeship Marshal Office

Bibliography by Janusz Janowski

* J. Janowski, "Wstęp", in: "Młodzi Twórcy Wybrzeża", ZPAP Gdańsk 2002.
* J. Janowski, "Czy życie jest ważniejsze od sztuki", in: "Artyści Galerii ZPAP 2003", ZPAP Gdańsk 2003.
* J. Janowski, "Laska. W starożytności. W Biblii. W ikonografii chrześcijańskiej", in: "Encyklopedia Katolicka", Lublin 2004, vol. 10, col. 513-514.
* J. Janowski, "Le Brun Charles, 1619-1690, malarz i dekorator, współtwórca stylu Ludwika XIV", in: "Encyklopedia Katolicka", Lublin 2004, vol. 10, col. 610-611.
* J. Janowski, "Lilia. W starożytności. W Biblii. W ikonografii", in "Encyklopedia Katolicka", Lublin 2004, vol. 10, col. 1067-1068.
* J. Janowski, "Lis. W mitologii sumeryjskiej. W Biblii. W sztuce", in: "Encyklopedia Katolicka", Lublin 2004, vol. 10, col. 1136.
* J. Janowski (with Beata Krasucka), "Lustro. W starożytności. W ikonografii", in: "Encyklopedia Katolicka", Lublin 2004, Lublin 2006, vol. 11, col. 227-228.
* J. Janowski, "Józef Pankiewicz wobec "łacińskiej tradycji" malarstwa europejskiego", "Pamiętnik Sztuk Pięknych. Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika" 1, 2003, p. 9-36.
* J. Janowski, "Maksymilian Kasprowicz - malarz swoich czasów", in: "Maksymilian Kasprowicz - katalog wystawy z cyklu „Ocalić od zapomnienia", ZPAP Gdańsk 2004.
* J. Janowski, "Wczesna twórczość Mojżesza Kislinga", in: "Sztuka lat 1905-1923; malarstwo, rzeźba, grafika, krytyka artystyczna. Materiały z konferencji naukowej", Toruń 2005.
* J. Janowski, "Nowi Dawni Mistrzowie – nowe dawne problemy w zrozumieniu malarstwa", in: "Artyści Galerii ZPAP 2006", ZPAP Gdańsk 2006.
* J. Janowski, "Jakie malarstwo jest nadal możliwe?", in: "Artyści Galerii ZPAP’ 2007", ZPAP Gdańsk 2007.
* J. Janowski, "Mieczysław Baryłko", in: "Mieczysław Baryłko – katalog wystawy z cyklu „Ocalić od zapomnienia”", ZPAP Gdańsk 2007.
* J. Janowski, "Malarstwo – pytanie o tożsamość na progu dwudziestego pierwszego wieku" (lecture delivered during a conference "O końcu sztuki" ('On the End of Art'), organized by the National Museum in Gdańsk and the National Center of Culture on February 12, 2007 in the Department of Contemporary Art of the National Museum in Gdańsk); publication in preparation.

Bibliography on Janusz Janowski

* Adrianna M. Garnik, "Tradycja malarstwa europejskiego w twórczości Janusza Janowskiego", Gdańsk 2007 (script in the Archives of the University of Gdańsk).
* "WHO IS WHO w Polsce", no. of biography 36 700 897, ed. 2008.

Links

* http://www.zpap-gdansk.art.pl/czlonkowie/janowski/janowski.htm
* http://www.zpap-gdansk.art.pl/index.htm
* http://www.zpap.org.pl/index.php?IdKat=1003010010
* http://www.zpap.org.pl/index.php?IdKat=1003010012&IdKat2=0&Ekran=59