Korczowski made his debut at the Nowa Ruda Festival in 1974 with the performance Biały Rower (White Bike). He moved to Paris in the 80s, where he obtained a diploma from the National School of Fine Arts and continues to live until now. In 1986, he was awarded the Regional Council of Ile-de-France prize for his artistic activity.
In 1988, Korczowski received a scholarship from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York, where he has returned many times. In Paris, he is associated with the Nicole Ferry Gallery, which regularly presents his paintings, while the Polish Institute in Paris has so far organised three solo exhibitions of the artist. Overall, Korczowski has had about sixty solo exhibitions.
The artist uses exaggerated symbols and ideograms in his works, starting with the early series of paintings Listy (Letters / Ecriture), created in the 80s. This series is a sort of an exchange, or intellectual ‘correspondence’, which treats writing as an image, a topic which the artist has been obsessed with for a long time. His works often contain small characters arranged in parallel rows just like letters, placed over the actual composition like an iris.
In June 1989 a monographic exhibition entitled Korczowski / Painting took place at the Zachęta National Gallery in Warsaw. This exhibition was evidence that despite his debut as a performer and the general trend of contemporary art to experiment with new techniques, Bogdan Korczowski has always been faithful to the most traditional painting material – oil. In 1998, the Polish Institute in Paris organised a retrospective exhibition of the artist.
His canvases are covered with thick and irregular multi-coloured paint. The artist applies these sudden, spontaneous strokes as if guided by internal impulses, which enhance the expressiveness of the image. The excessive paint often overflows, creating vertical, chaotic and uneven lines. These ‘unexpected’ streams thicken the already dense texture of the canvas.
Writing about Korczowski’s painting, the Parisian art critic Muriel Carbonnet called it a ‘true chromatic drunkenness’. The impressive colours, their expressiveness and dynamism, lend an emotional dimension to the abstract colourism. Due to the interesting colour combinations and the sense of spaciousness they produce, some of his paintings make us feel in direct contact with nature. Korczowski creates a world of his own, where different cultures and their traditions mix with natural elements: fire, water, earth and sky.
Though the artist has lived in Paris for many years, he frequently returns to Kraków.
I was born in Central Europe, I come from a small continent of many cultures.
– says Korczowski about his cosmopolitan city steeped in tradition.
For him, the embodiment of this specific, Krakowian atmosphere is his spiritual master, Tadeusz Kantor, who despite numerous successes in the world, never abandoned his city:
I am captivated by his art, because memory and the past were two obsessive dimensions in his work.
Korczowski dedicated the series Kartonteka to him, created in the form of an installation. Parts of Kartonetka are preserved in public collections in Poland: the National Museum in Poznań and the City Art Galleries in Częstochowa and Lublin. Dozens of elements are found in private collections. In 2010, the Cricoteka in Kraków displayed a photo collection from Cricot2 theatre productions by Korczowski.
In Paris, the artist collaborated with the Nicole Ferry Gallery for twenty years. In 2004 he participated in the Polish Season in France Nova Polska with two exhibitions. The events were organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute to celebrate the Polish accession to the European Union.
- 1976 – BWA, Kłodzko
- 1977
- Jaszczury Gallery, Kraków
- Punkt Jerzego Ludwińskiego Gallery, Toruń - 1978 – Teatr 38, Kraków
- 1981 – Lettres, Polish Institute in Paris, France
- 1983 – Première hommage a Tadeusz Kantor, FIAP, Paris, France
- 1985
- Galerie de la Grande Masse des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France
- Lettres et Signes, Galerie Feeling, Paris, France
- ON Gallery, Poznań
- Galerie Michel Vogel, Villeneuve/Montreux, Switzerland - 1986
- Artothèque CAC Agora, Evry, France
- Polish Museum, Chicago, USA
- Art Contact, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Galerie Feeling, Paris, France - 1987
- Post-Communication, Galerie L’Aire du Verseau, Paris, France
- Galerie Art Conseil et Aérospatiale, Toulouse, France
- Palais des Arts, Toulouse, France
- Galerie 97 Soho, New York, USA - 1988
- Pyramide, Galerie Aline Vidal, Paris, France
- Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston/Chicago, USA
- Galerie Atrium, Stockholm, Sweden - 1989
- Artothèque, Valence, France
- Zachęta Gallery, Warsaw
- Brama Gallery, Warsaw
- MAC 2000, Grand Palais, Paris, France - 1990
- Galerie Frank Bustamante, New York, USA
- Galerie Albert 1er, Paris, France
- BWA Łódź - 1991
- Amour a Mort, Galerie Frank Bustamante, New York, USA
- Association Pont Neuf, Paris, France
- Memory, NECCA, Brooklyn/Connecticut, USA
- Pryzmat Gallery, Kraków
- Grands Formats, Polish Institute in Paris, France
- Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France - 1992
- Histoire du Ciel, Galeries Simon Gavina et la Bussola, Turin, Italy
- Sky Tailes, Galerie Frank Bustamante, New York, USA - 1993
- European Fine Art Fair, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Deuxième purgatoire de Galilée, Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France
- BWA Wrocław
- Galerie Frank Bustamante, New York, USA - 1994
- Garandeau, Galerie Léo Tony, New York, USA
- Garandeau, Espace Paul Ricard, Paris, France - 1995
- Chaman, Galerie Dmochowski, Paris, France
- Rome Art Community Center, Rome/New York, USA
- City Art Gallery, Częstochowa
- Malédiction, Galerie Artmica, Paris, France - 1996
- Kartony, Hommage a Tadeusz Kantor, Polonia House, Kraków
- La Chute de l’Ange, Galerie Askéo, Paris, France - 1997
- Galerie Selmersheim, Paris, France
- Contemporary Art Museum, Radom
- Hommage a Tadeusz Kantor, Albert Gallery, Kraków
- Espace 061 Art Contemporain, Rouen, France
- Totems, Polish Institute in Moscow, Russia
- Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France - 1998
- Retrospective, Polish Institute in Paris, France
- State Gallery of Art, Toruń - 1999
- Arsenał Gallery, Poznań
- La Chapelle, Avignon, France
- Solvay Centre for Contemporary Art, Kraków - 2000
- Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France
- Cartonthèque, Centre Municipal d’Art Contemporain, Gennevilliers, France.
- MBWA, Leszno
- Les Ateliers d’Arts, Avignon, France
- State Gallery of Art, Sopot
- Korczowski/Kantor, Renes Gallery, Warsaw
- Cartonthèque, Collegiale, Orleans, France - 2001
- Renes Gallery, Poznań
- Galerie Binotti, St. Remy-de-Provance, France
- Cartonthèque, Espace Culturel, Brécey, La Manche, France - 2002
- Les Chiens ne font pas des Chats, Espace Electron Libre, Paris, France
- Photothèque, Galerie Selmersheim, Paris, France
- Espace La Pléiade, Commentry, France
- Sensualite au Vegetal, Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France
- Grande Arche da la Défense, Paris, France - 2003
- Piętra Sztuki, Program Gallery, Warsaw - 2004
- BWA Lublin
- Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France (as part of the Polish Season in France Nova Polska)
- Cartonthèque, Espace Paul Delouvrier, FIAP, Paris, France (as part of the Polish Season in France Nova Polska) - 2005:
- Fototeka, Nova Gallery, Kraków
- Cartonthèque Espace Caffarelli, Paris, France
- Ausstellung Galerie Alex Schlesinger, Zürich, Switzerland - 2006:
- Chaman, Traffic Gallery,Warsaw
- DESA Auction House, Kraków
- ECRITURE (Love Letters) Korczowski/ Roques-Gaichies, Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France.
2007:
- Male sprawy, Przedzial Gallery, Kraków - 2008:
- Fruiteé, Galerie Nicole Ferry, Paris, France
- Pisanki, Art & Design, Warsaw
- Snake, MBWA Olkusz
- Snake, MBWA Nowy Targ
- Snake, MBWA Krinica
- Fototeka, Zejscie Gallery, Kraków
- 45 Tableaux, Fondation Carzou, Manosque, France
- Fruiteé, Galerie Alex Schlesinger, Zürich, Switzerland - 2010:
- Peintures & Cartonthèque, Centre d’Art Plastiques Albert Chanot, Clamart/Paris, France
- Zbyt pozno na chwale (Trzy dekady malarstwa 1979-2009) BWA Gorzów Wielkopolski
- Photothèque, Mia Casa, Rencontres-OFF, Arles, France
- Ulica Tadeusza Kantora, Cricoteka, Kraków
- Kartonteka, Akcja Sztuki-Nowe, Tychy
- Orbium Coelestium, Zejscie Gallery, Kraków - 2011:
- Orbium Coelestium, Musée Paul Delouvrier, Evry/Paris, France
- Regards sur le Corps, FEPN, Palais de l’Archevêché, Arles, France
- Snake, BWA Sieradz - 2012:
- Orbium Coelestium, Hortar Gallery, Tarnów
- Peintures, Orangerie Caillebotte, Yerres/Paris, France
- Kartony dla K, Florianska22 Gallery, Kraków (Hommage à Tadeusz Kantor) - 2013:
- Orbium Coelestium, BWA Przemyśl
- Eppur si muove, BWA Rzeszów
- A jednak się kręci, Tribute to Peter Grzybowski, Florianska22 Gallery, Kraków - 2014:
- Prezentacja, (Snake), Artinvest, Warsaw
- Eppur Si Muove, BWA Sandomierz
- Traversée du Désert, BWA Krosno - 2015:
- Oeuvres 1980-2010 - Goxe-Belaïsch-Enghien Auction-Enghien-les Bains/Paris, France
- Sensualité au Végétal, ESPACE GAINVILLE, Aulnay-sous-bois/Paris, France
Source: www.korczowski.com, June 2004, update: April 2015, transl. Bozhana Nikolova, April 2015