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Ron Kowalke was born November 8th, 1936 in Chicago. He attended Chicago Vocational High School on the south side of the city and after graduation in 1954, enrolled as a B.F.A. candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Chicago academic program. He accepted an art scholarship from Rockford College in 1956, graduated in 1959 and went on for an M.F.A. degree in 1960 from Cranbrook Academy in Michigan.
His teaching career began as an art instructor at Northern Illinois University and shifted in 1960 to the Swain School of Design located in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1969, he accepted a full time teaching position in the Art Department of the University of Hawaii. He is a full professor in the painting and drawing program and teaches courses ranging from beginning drawing to graduate painting.
His work in included in numerous permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Public Library, The Library of Congress, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu,and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.
He has participated in over one hundred national and international exhibitions and has accepted numerous invited teaching positions including the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, the Academy of Fine Art in Warsaw, Poland, the University of
Washington in Seattle, and the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia.
Recent acquisitions of Ron’s work (November 2010) include the Yale University Art Museum and the Bard College Hessel Museum. The painting ‘Laser Buddha’ (image 1) is being prepared for permanent exhibit in the Frank Gehry designed “The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts” at Bard College.
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ARTIST STATEMENT:
In considering the nature of creativity, I have found a place in my nature that constantly questions, explores, invents, builds, destroys and rebuilds upon those processes of experimentation, technical experience and daring. I dance and play with images and trust the creative process.
In the doing, in the leaping into the unknown, into the abyss of birthing soil, wet with the juice of danger, knowing further that the journey is ripe with twists , turns, detours, trickery, illusion, jokes, threats, brings both anger and joy. I trust my process. I am fearless in the studio.
It is an arena for struggle, flight, brain bending concepts, visual games and attitude. Opinions galore.
A political stance, an outrage, a hope for redemption, a plea for justice, coupling the dark and the light, walking a precarious line of half truths and blasphemy.
Holding on to a vision of beauty in the shadows, and healing through the pain.
The joy of working, questioning, puzzling, manipulating shapes, colors and mastering the medium is the key to be being bent in the heat while splashing the images with acid, honey, mud, gems and ancient healing oils.
My mind travels in a war between heaven and earth with my hands and heart trembling with excitement. I try again, repeat, read, watch, flounder in the labyrinth of a secret voice and honor code that is braced with knowing that personal freedom is that potion that brings strength, stamina, courage, vision and a true calling to service as an artist.
1936年11月8日, 罗恩·科沃克 (Ron Kowalke) 出生于美国芝加哥。1954年, 毕业于芝加哥职业高中后, 进入芝加哥 艺术学院攻读创作学士学位, 并在芝加哥大学学习文化课。1956年, 科沃克获得Rockford大学艺术奖学金并于3年后毕 业, 之后, 他在密歇根的克兰布鲁克艺术学院继续深造艺术学硕士学位。
科沃克执教于美国北伊利诺大学。1960年, 他开始在马赛诸萨省新贝德福德镇的天鹅设计学校工作。1969年, 他被夏威 夷大学艺术部聘为全职教师, 主要教授基础素描以及研究生绘画课程。
科沃克的作品被作为终身藏品纳入如大都会艺术博物馆、纽约现代艺术博物馆、波士顿公共图书馆、美国国会图书馆、 檀香山艺术学院、檀香山当代博物馆、夏威夷州立文化艺术基金会等。
他举办个展或者参加团展已逾百次, 多次接到国际艺术院校聘书, 如新西兰的坎特伯雷大学、波兰华沙艺术学院、西雅 图华盛顿大学、澳大利亚霍巴特市的塔斯马尼亚大学。
2010年, 罗恩的作品被耶鲁大学艺术博物馆和巴德学院的Hessel美术馆收藏。他的绘画作品《镭射大佛》(‘Laser Buddha’) 正在备展, 这幅作品将会在大师弗兰克·盖里 (Frank Gehry) 设计的巴德学院“理查德·费舍尔表演艺术中心”
艺术家的话：
我时常在创作实验、数码体验、历险中思索创造力的本质何在。我发现, 创造力的本质在于不断的提问、探索和发明，, 也在于创造、毁灭和重建。
我是如此信赖这个创造的过程，它让我能够与艺术形象嬉闹、舞蹈。
创作如同踏入未知领域，地之深崖、险境密布，明知旅行的高低起伏、荆棘满布、苦乐参半，而执意前行。
可我信赖这个创作的过程, 让我在工作室里无所畏惧、天马行空。
矛盾充斥在创作中，各种概念、嬉戏和姿态在大脑中碰撞、激荡, 汇集了大量的想法。
政治的立场、愤怒的情绪、渴望得到救赎的愿望和对正义的申诉, 都伴随着光和影, 颠簸在半真理半亵渎的路上。
可我相信痛苦中疗伤的效果和影子中美丽的影像。
在创作工作、思考解谜、塑形过程中的乐趣能够成功转化成灵感, 让我能够使用一些特别的原料如酸、蜂蜜、泥浆、宝 石和传统药油用于创作。
我的思想在天地间穿梭, 心手有如神助, 让我思如泉涌。
个人的自由存在于那部分能够给人带来力量、启发、勇气和眼光当中, 发自于一个艺术家的心声。在这个充满神秘声音 和准则的迷宫里, 我愿意将这一创作过程一直重复下去。 |
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