Articles by Leonard Koscianski

Stalked.  Oil on panel, 14″x18″, ©2009, Leonard Koscianski.  Collection of Theresa Glaser Koscianski

Rhododendron Blossoms. Pastel on paper, 30″x22″, ©2009, Leonard Koscianski.  Stremmel Gallery, Reno.

This pastel is larger studio version of a study done in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

It will be shown at the Stremmel Gallery in Reno, this November and December.

Wild Kingdom. Oil on panel, 7.25″x10″, ©2009, Leonard Koscianski.  Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago.

Modern Living. Oil on panel, 10.5″x16″, ©2009, Leonard Koscianski.  OK Harris Fine Art, New York.

Flowers That Fly. Oil on canvas, 46″x66″, ©2008, Leonard Koscianski.  Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago.

Announcing an exhibition of new work:

February 6 to March 14, 2009.

Artist’s reception - Friday, February 6 from 5:30 until 8:00 PM.

The gallery writes:

A critic of the postmodern world, Leonard Koscianski’s art work frequently alludes to the dark emotional turmoil of life in suburban America.  Paintings of snarling dogs, attacking birds, and beautiful, seemingly docile flowers are portrayed as predatory in a world of suburban neighborhood settings.  They are often surrounded by cage-like networks of branches representing the individual as isolated from the product of his labor, and imprisoned in suburban sprawl.  He is tantalized and inevitably frustrated in his quest for consumer products.  He is shorn of religion, ethics, and metaphysics.  Even long standing customs are suspect.  Using a symbolic representation of postmodern man and his world, the artist implies that the angry, frustrated postmodern individual reverts to a Hobbesean primitive on an emotional level.  Connecting himself to modernist social critics like Sinclair Lewis and Sherwood Anderson, Koscianski suggests that the “Heart of Darkness” is to be found in Middle America.

Catch of the Day. Oil on canvas, 66″x46″, ©2008, Leonard Koscianski.  Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago.

Nature Lovers. Oil on canvas, 46″x66″, ©2008, Leonard Koscianski, courtesy Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago.

Red Sky in the Morning. Oil on canvas, 48″x36″, ©2008, Leonard Koscianski.

I first painted this in 2000.

It sat in my basement for years.

Finally this summer, I experimented with possible changes by drawing on digital prints of this painting.

Then I reworked it.

This is how it looked originally.

Butterfly and Orchid with Leaves. Pastel on paper, 41.5″ x 29.5″, ©2008 Leonard Koscianski.

Everything that I make, I finish. It isn’t often that I abandon a painting.

I started this pastel drawing several years ago and was stumped. I put it away and forgot about it.

Then a few weeks ago, with a little prodding, out it came. The challenge for me is that it’s a fantasy. When I draw, the images I create must have a plausible existence in a logical, if not realistic space. Even if they seem distorted and warped, the pieces must still connect. What’s different here is that the parts only connect on the surface of the drawing. It’s a romance, a dream.

Stargazer Lily and Butterfly. 64×46, oil on canvas,

©2003, Leonard Koscianski.

Good Bad Dog, oil on canvas, 40″x66″, ©2008, Leonard Koscianski,

courtesy Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago.

Flying Bats, oil on canvas, 46″x66″, ©2006, Leonard Koscianski,

courtesy OK Harris gallery.