Tamara BERDOWSKA (b. 1962), Vortex, 2017

oil, canvas; 30 x 30 cm;
Signed and dated on the reverse: Tamara / Berdowska / 2017.

From 1985 to 1990 she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow in the studio of Prof. Janina KraupeŚwiderska. She received her diploma with distinction. Between 1988 and 2012, she participated in more than 90 group exhibitions and 22 individual exhibitions. Since 2000, she has participated in symposia organized by Bożena Kowalska for artists using the language of geometry in Chelm, Orońsko and then in Radziejowice. She has received, among others, scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and Art, Emilly Car College of Art and Design in Vancouver ( Canada), Pollock- Krasner Foundation (New York), Creative Scholarship of the President of the City of Bielsko-Biala and awards of Prof. Janina Kraupe-Świderska, Grand Prix, Art of Two Times, National Museum in Gdansk, Egeria 2000, Mayor's Award, Ostrów Wielkopolski Museum, Witold Wojtkiewicz Award in Krakow. Tamara Berdowska's works are in the collections of the National Museum in Szczecin, the Museum in Bochum, the Studio Gallery in Warsaw, the Historical Museum of the City of Cracow, the Archdiocese Museum in Katowice, the District Museum in Chelm, the District Museum in Radom, Polish Sculpture Center in Orońsko, Historical Museum in Bielsko-Biała, Mondriaanhuis, Museum in Amersfoort, Mazovian Contemporary Art Center "Elektrownia" in Radom, Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, Museum Kulturspeicher Wu¨rzburg Sammlung Peter C. Ruppert and in private collections at home and abroad.
Major solo exhibitions: 2017 - Insomnia, Korekta Gallery, Warsaw; 2016 - Tamara Berdowska - painting, Leszek Oprządek - sculpture, PPP Gallery (ZPAP), Bielsko Biala; 2016 - Idea a Form, Polish Institute in Bratislava, exhibition within the framework of the International Festival Socha a Objekt XXI; 2015 - Exhibition of paintings and objects in connection with the W. Wojtkiewicz, Pryzmat Gallery, Krakow, 2015 - Spatial Compositions, Artemis Gallery, Krakow; 2014 - Painting, Pryzmat ZPAP Gallery, Krakow; 2014 - Painting and objects, BWA City Gallery, Bielsko-Biala; 2012 - Painting, reliefs, Nautilus Gallery, Krakow; 2007 - Paintings and objects, Rogatka Art Gallery, Radom; 2005 - Paintings, spatial constructions, Nautilus,
Krakow; 2004 - Paintings + object, ZPAP Sukiennice Gallery, Activities Studio; 2004 - Paintings + object, Radom University of Technology - Rogatka Gallery, Radom; 2002 - Object and paintings, Grodzka Gallery, BWA Lublin; 2001 - Paintings and objects, 261 Gallery, Lodz; 2000 - Paintings, 72 Gallery, District Museum, Chelm.

"Her paintings, too, are gray, and out of this light grayness they emerge and grow in intensity, though never bright: red fading into gray, followed by gray again, and another color - cobalt blue, all full of movement, pulsation of forms and vibration of the basic micro-beads from which Berdowska always builds her paintings. (...) These are Tamara's reliefs and canvases not only eye-catching; they not only enchant with color and delight the eyes. They invite contemplation. One reads in them the nostalgic reverie and authentic experiences that the author expresses so beautifully and with simplicity: "...there is in me a need to externalize and give form to the images that appear in my mind /.../ I am always accompanied by a sense of imperfection of the resulting image in relation to the phenomenon that triggered the need to create. Creativity is the pursuit of perfection, which one never achieves, to define and touch something that is only intuited. Creativity is accompanied by an eternal longing."
(Source: Bozena Kowalska, text to the exhibition, Artemis Gallery 2015)