Birch Tree in Winter, 2017-18 Painting

"I paint from nature, that is, from direct observation of what I have in front of me: a figure, the corner of the studio, the landscape outside the window, or the arrangement of everyday objects - preferably a figure. Since 2005, this has become my sole practice. All I want is to paint what I see as true as possible; it also means, in my case, that likeness matters. I have no method for this: I am primarily interested in putting things in the right place. This process, as far as I am concerned, is based on the form of truth-telling which makes room for the honesty of not-knowing, liberating from the tyranny of discursive intellect and memory - the problem with reality is that it contradicts preconceptions. This is fundamentally different from nineteenth-century realism founded on knowing - on our ability to know about things and people and specific principles of perception and presentation. " Born in 1961 in Gdansk, 1985-1990 studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Poland. In 1990 he received MFA having studied with prof. Hugo Lasecki. 2006-2017 lived in London and Los Angeles, currently he lives in Gdynia, Poland. Awarded numerous scholarships, including: KulturKontakt Austria: Artist in Residence Programm-Guest Studio 2000, scholarship of Felix Meritis Foundation/Amsterdam Institute for Painting: Master Class in Painting with Jorg Immendorff (1995) or the Minister of Culture and Art scholarship (1987 and 1990). His work has been included in many group and individual exhibitions, including at Mall Galleries and Kings Place Gallery in London, Pałac Krolikarnia (Branch of the National Museum in Warsaw), Galerie Bertrand Kass in Innsbruck, Galeria Nowa in Poznań, KK Gastatelier in Vienna, Aschenbach Gallery in Amsterdam, Baltic Sea Culture Center in Gdańsk, BWA in Wrocław, Galeria Wyspa in Gdansk, and the Laznia Center for Contemporary Art in Gdansk. In 2020, a solo exhibition of Slawek Gora paintings was held at Galeria A at the Starogard Culture Center in Starogard (10.01-7.02.2020) and until 26 February 2020 an exhibition of Self-portraits at Galeria OT Rondo at the Slupsk Cultural Center, Słupsk. The following year "View of the Institute", another solo show of the artist took place at Galeria OT Rondo.