"Partition" Painting

Karol Kochanowski is a Polish-born contemporary oil painter based at Rogue Artists Studios in Manchester, UK. Moving to the UK over twenty years ago, his practice is informed by a dual cultural perspective and his lived experience of navigating a neurodivergent mind. He views the canvas as a space to find structure within a chaotic internal landscape, using the intuitive process of oil painting to translate the fragmented layers of the psyche into a visual mythology.

Spanning figuration, self-portraiture, and allegorical landscapes derived from subconscious architecture, Kochanowski’s work operates at the intersection of personal psychology, collective myth, and universal spirituality. Drawing from Jungian theory, historical texts, and the resonance of sacred spaces, his paintings construct symbolic worlds where contemporary isolation and metaphysical seeking collide.

Following a solo exhibition at HOME Manchester in 2021 as winner of the Manchester Open Award, his practice has focused on exploring the boundaries of contemporary figuration. Through distorted portraits and psychologically charged environments, he examines the tension between the inner self and the external persona. Kochanowski treats the elements within his canvases as thresholds where memory, myth, and the unconscious intersect, inviting the viewer to navigate the spaces of our shared human experience.


AWARDS

- Winner, HOME: Granada Foundation Gallery Exhibition Award, 2020
- Shortlisted, Greater Manchester Art Prize, 2019
- Shortlisted, Air Open Prize, 2018
- Winner, Ken Bellany Prize, 2013
- Shortlisted, neo:artprize, 2013

RESIDENCIES

- 2015 – 2016 Fountain Street Artists' Residency, Floating Island Gallery Ltd, Manchester
- 2014 U R Not Invited Residency & Exhibition, Kosmonaut, Manchester
- 2012 Summer Artist's Residency, Cornaro Institute, Larnaca, Cyprus

STUDIO HISTORY

- 2023 – Present Rogue Artists Studios, Manchester
- 2018 – 2023 Wellington Studios, Manchester
- 2013 – 2018 Various professional studio groups (Artwork Atelier, Grumpy Studios, CDM)