Karol Kochanowski received the Granada Foundation Gallery Exhibition Award at the inaugural Manchester Open Awards in 2020 for his work Class.
Kochanowski’s paintings depict uncanny spaces, some of which are populated with strange forms. In places, we find organic shapes, animal parts or plant life; other elements are architectural, geometric or purely abstract. His influences come from many sources including the work of 20th century Avant-garde artists and our everyday environments.
As an artist he is interested in how we might draw imagery back from our subconscious and to what extent we can visualise or represent our unconscious thoughts. Perhaps as a result of this, the forms and spaces in his work are imbued with a sense of a deeper dimension; of something lurking beneath the surface.
Karol Kochanowski is a Polish artist and painter based in Manchester. He graduated in 2013, from Fine Art (BA) at Manchester Metropolitan University and has exhibited internationally, including in London, New York, Berlin, Raleigh (North Carolina).
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Karol is the 2020 Manchester Open Granada Foundation Award Winner, one of five Manchester Open Artist Awardees and received a programme of professional and creative development from Castlefield Gallery, commissioned by HOME. Castlefield Gallery has provided Karol with support to develop his practice and his work for the exhibition, including a series of one-to-one sessions with Castlefield Gallery Curator and Deputy Director Matthew Pendergast and artist coach Jo Clements, and one-off sessions with artists Andrew Bracey and Iain Andrews.