Showing 1–20 of 26 results
STATEMENT
My work is an audacious and blasphemous satire of human ignorance and apathy that confronts the absurdities I find in many contemporary religious beliefs. I tackle biblical lore that is celebrated as fact over the findings of empirical science, such as the denial (held by over 50% of the populace) that evolution is real. My work is also a reaction to the pervasive attitude in many secular and non-secular societies, including our own, that women are the lesser gender.
I use my work to mock and challenge these follies - which are passed down from generation to generation - drawing and painting the comically grotesque and the obscenely ugly to create a narrative that questions these preposterous teachings using a surreal mix of metaphors, visual distortions and slapstick humor. I believe that this ignorance causes suffering and despair on personal (hatred) and global (war) levels.
This grotesquery may cause uneasiness in the viewer; not because of the deformed imagery itself, but because the subject matter disturbs – and questions – the viewer’s conscious beliefs.
BIO
Kip Kowalski graduated from The Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1978 and has worked and kept a studio in the Detroit area for the past 40 years. Four years after graduating, Kip was elected to his alumni board of directors where he served for five years, two as president.
He is an artist who has had two one-man shows at the Michigan Guild Gallery, Ann Arbor; and the Arnold Klein Gallery, Royal Oak, where he was represented for many years until its closing in 2010.
His work has been featured in several group shows throughout southeast Michigan and New York in galleries and museums including the Kresge Foundation, Troy; and the Ella Sharp Museum of Art, Jackson; the Muskegon Museum of Art. Muskegon and the Midland Museum of Art, Midland.
In addition, his work is held in several public and private collections throughout the United States.
EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS/COMMISSIONS
Select Solo Exhibitions
Michigan Guild Gallery Ann Arbor, Michigan October 2003
Arnold Klein Gallery Royal Oak, Michigan December 2001
Select Two-Man Exhibitions
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center “Simultaneous Contrast: Christine A Ritchie / Kip Kowalski Paintings and Drawings" Birmingham, MI Sept 2017
Cass Gallery “2 Artists, 4 Eyes, 6 Models, 8 Years Later… Kip Kowalski / Richard P Mylenek" Detroit, MI September 2016
Synergy Art Gallery “Exhibition 3: Kip Kowalski and Robert Mirek” Berkley, MI April 2006
Select Museum Group Exhibitions
Midland Center for The Arts Museum “2018 Greater Michigan Art Exhibition” Midland, MI September 2018
Muskegon Museum of Art “90th Annual Michigan Juried Exhibition Muskegon, MI August 2018
Ella Sharp Museum of Art “61st Annual Michigan Watercolor Exhibition Jackson, MI November 2008
Group Exhibitions
The Scarab Club “2020 Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition” Detroit, MI February 2020
The Scarab Club “106th Gold Medal Exhibition” Detroit, MI November 2019
Anton Art Center “2019 Members Exhibition” Mt. Clemens, MI May 2019
Cass Gallery “Anniversary Exhibition” Detroit, MI April 2019
The Scarab Club “Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition” Detroit, MI February 2019
Anton Art Center “Michigan Annual XLVI” Mt. Clemens, MI January 2019
The Detroit Artists Market “ All Media Exhibition” Detroit, MI January 2019
The Scarab Club “105th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition” Detroit, MI November 2018
Starkweather Arts Center “2018 Thumb Area Exhibition” Romeo, MI September 2018
Anton Art Center “Summer Invitational” Mt. Clemens, MI July 2018
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center “Michigan Fine Arts Competition” Birmingham, MI June 2018
LowellArts Gallery “Location, Location, Location: Exhibition” Lowell, MI June 2018
The Scarab Club “All-Media Exhibition” Detroit, MI May 2018
Valade Gallery “Re/View: A CCS Alumni Exhibition” Detroit, MI March 2018
Ann Arbor Art Center “Art Now: Drawing” Ann Arbor, MI February 2018
The Scarab Club “The Gilda Snowden Exhibition” Detroit, MI February 2018
Anton Art Center “Michigan Annual XLV” Mt. Clemens, MI January 2018
Blue Mountain Gallery “2018 Juried Exhibition” New York, NY January 2018
The Scarab Club “104th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition” Detroit, MI November 2017
Anton Art Center “Members Exhibition” Mt. Clemens, MI Sept 2017
Ellen Kayrod Gallery “Hannan Summer Open” Detroit, MI June 2017
Valade Gallery “Chronicles” Detroit, MI June 2017
The Scarab Club “Blooms, Bugs, Beasts” Detroit, MI May 2017
Valade Gallery “Re/View: A CCS Alumni Exhibition” Detroit, MI April 2017
Anton Art Center “Michigan Annual XLIV” Mt. Clemens, MI January 2017
The Scarab Club “103rd Annual Gold Medal Exhibition” Detroit, MI November 2016
Anton Art Center “Members’ Exhibition” Mt. Clemens, MI July 2016
Anton Art Center “The Art of Dance” Mt. Clemens, MI May 2016
Kresge Foundation “ Invitational Exhibition” Troy, MI April 2016
Ann Arbor Art Center “93rd Annual All-Media Exhibition” Ann Arbor, MI Oct 2015
The Scarab Club “2015 Photography Exhibition” Detroit, MI Oct 2015
Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center “33rd Michigan Fine Arts Competition” Birmingham, MI June 2015
The Detroit Artists Market “Abstraction: Artist/Viewer/Dialog” Detroit, MI May 2015
Cass Gallery “Twenty Years Against The Wall” Detroit, MI March 2014
M Stamps: University of Michigan “Detroit Collective” Detroit, MI Nov 2013
Arnold Klein Gallery “Last Show” Royal Oak, MI February 2011
Arnold Klein Gallery “Gallery Artists” Royal Oak, MI Nov 2010
Cass Gallery “In the Gallery: John Egner, Kip Kowalski, Diana May, Christine Monholin, Robin Sommers" Detroit 2010
Arnold Klein Gallery “Gallery Artists” Royal Oak, MI May 2010
The Detroit Artists Market “2010 All Media Exhibition” Detroit, MI April 2010
Cass Gallery “Works by Robert Edwards, Kip Kowalski, Richard P Mylenek" Detroit, MI Nov 2008
Arnold Klein Gallery “Paint by Numbers” Royal Oak, MI April 2004
Arnold Klein Gallery “Books” Royal Oak, MI March 2003
Cass Gallery “[email protected]” Detroit, MI Oct/Nov 2002
Arnold Klein Gallery “Alphabet” Royal Oak, MI May 2002
Arnold Klein Gallery “Earth” Royal Oak, MI September 2001
Arnold Klein Gallery “Red/Desert” Royal Oak, MI May 2000
Larson/Mirek Gallery “Recent Paintings” Online 1998
Cass Gallery “Paintings and Prints: Katheryn Brackett Luchs, Matthew Breneau, Kip Kowalski, Patricia Soderberg, Robin Sommers" Detroit, MI May/July 1997
Arnold Klein Gallery “Press Here” A Portfolio of Prints from Graphikos Press Royal Oak, MI May 1995
County Galleria “CO-ACT/ART” Pontiac, MI Jan/Mar 1990
The Art Center “Michigan Annual VII” Mt. Clemens, MI Spring 1982
The Scarab Club “39th Annual Watercolor Exhibition” Detroit, MI Spring 1982
The Scarab Club “33rd Annual Watercolor Exhibition” Detroit, MI Spring 1979
Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design “ Graduate Exhibition” Detroit, MI May 1978
The Detroit Artists Market “Juried Group Shows” Detroit, MI 1978-1982, 19992
City National Bank “Group Exhibition” Detroit, MI 1974
The Art Center “Bi-County Exhibition Mt. Clemens, MI 1973
EDUCATION
1978 BFA in Painting/Drawing from Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design
AWARDS/DISTINCTIONS
Thumb Area Artist’s Exhibition, Third Prize 2018
103rd Annual Gold Medal Exhibition, Scarab Club, Second Prize 2016
The Art of Dance, Honorable Mention 2016
38th Annual Scarab Club Watercolor Exhibition, Second Prize 1981
Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design, Scholarship 1974-1978
The Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts Honors Award 1973
Manley J. Samson Scholarship 1973
National Scholarship, National Scholastic Art Exhibition 1973
Certificate of Merit, National Scholastic Art Exhibition 1973
Certificate of Merit, National Scholastic Art Exhibition 1972
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Artist, Designer, Art Director, General Motors Photographic
ARTIST'S TAGS
american artist, contemporary artist, figurative artist, symbolist artist, surrealist artist