Krzysztof Skorczewski

Krzysztof Skorczewski

Krzysztof Skórczewski was born in 1947. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in 1965-1971, graduated in 1971. Since then, he has been taking part in over 200 collective and about 50 individual exhibitions. During his education in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm (1976) he made attempts at engraving copper plates. As a consequence many print series came into being: Towers, Dolls, Orchards, Cracow. Since 1994 he is creating compositions using pastels and watercolors. Presently, Krzysztof Skórczewski is professor at the European School of Art in Warsaw. In 2003 he was invited to Utah State University as a visiting artist. Together with his wife, he runs a print shop where all his copper plate prints are produced. Received many awards some of which are: First Award at the Internatonal Festival of Graphic Art in Menton (France) 1989, Second Award at the MBG in Cracow in 1972, The Albertina Society Award in Vienna the same year. The works of Krzysztof Skórczewki can be found in collections worldwide: The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Albertina Collection in Vienna, Museum of Art and History in Fryburg, the Print Cabinet in Geneva, Kunsthalle in Bremen. Krzysztof Skórczewski regularly participates in charity auctions all around the country. "In order to practice copper engraving today – an artist must be more than just an artist; one must also be a philosopher, so as to not succumb to panic when facing the most cruel of all powers – Time. When he, Time, in a matter of moments or days, destroys one thing and transforms the other, annihilates seemingly unfaltering convictions, dispels moods – doing your own thing is of utmost importance. The Fear of Time manifests itself in hastiness, forcing people to a constant run. This leads to de-concentration and superficiality in thoughts and actions. We all experience this influence also in the domain of art. This fear is materialized in a desperate search for “higher motivations” to justify petty ideas and sloppy rendition. And to engrave a copper plate it sometimes takes months. Nowadays, in some areas of life, this equals an epoch; everything around us may change between the grasp of the burin and the last etch. So what kind of endurance of convictions does it take to remain true to yourself? [...]". Stanisław Stopczyk