LAHORE: The Australian High Commission, Islamabad, and the Lahore Arts Council held an exhibition of prints and drawings by Damon Kowarsky. It was treat to watch. During the exhibition, named Over View, Kowarsky talked about his art with Shahzad Hassan Ghazi for The Shohrat International.
Following is the question, answer session Shahzad Hassan Ghazi held with Kowarsky.
How you are and what do you do?
My name is Damon Kowarsky .I am a print maker from Australia, for the last five years visiting in Pakistan and teaching, exhibiting and do project with local artist.
What works you enjoying doing?
I really like sitting in my studio, making drawings, I like processing them and printing them.
Name three artists you’d like to be compared ?
David Hockney, Picasso, and Durra. I also really like Goya, first three of them I look at their works again and again.
What is the role of artist in society?
Artist brings something for the culture which is not their before.
But an artist is not the first priority of life. People often need food and shelter. Art is long way down. Art is a luxury activity. We are lucky if people like our art.
How has your practice changed with the time?
I have been making the same pictures for last ten years. It changes very gradually. I travelled a lot and have seen new things and experienced that has also affected my art.
What is an artistic outlook on life?
I just have no idea, I just do what I do, trying to make a living, I like to travel. I like to make art, to meet people. I think it is the people who are the best judge of what artistic outlook is and that too according to their thinking.
What are your favorite art works?
“Wow” there is great Nicolas Sheldon in which some peoples are playing cards in the National Gallery in Washington. Stunning Matisse in the Museum of Modern New York. Miniatures in National Museum in Dehli, these are all unbelievable.
Which are the things that inspire you in real life?
It could be anything. Like when I am at an airport waiting of a plane and the partial view at the window. I am interested in anything it would be that I am walking in a city and I see the streets which I like. When I am watching movies and see characters that swing they force me to draw them. Pictures also inspire me. Being in the world looking at the stuff, observing them, reading books and making pictures.
What is your favorite song?
My Favorite song is Week by week.
What food is your favourite food?
I enjoy cooking and eating some dishes but because I travel a lot so my art is with me and I like Daal Chana very much.
What other jobs have you done?
I have worked in a Kitchen. I have worked in a food center, I have worked for the archeological office, I have worked in book stores, I sold chocolates in super markets and that was a good job.
Which is your favorite place where you want to go?
I love visiting New York and it’s a place where I would love to go again and again but I live in Australia so that is where my family is. I love Cairo, Istunbul, Lahore, Tokyo and their are many other amazing places in th world which I like a lot.
Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counter it?
Mostly print makers have no studios. I have bought myself a little studio and spend a lot of time alone. Most print makers are in Australia and they go to government universities and use their machinery, I am lucky I work by myself in my studio but some times I go outdoors where artists work.
When you are bored with yourself and your work in the studio, what do you do to get out of it art wise?
I don’t get bored that often and in 2013 I have six solo shows and have a lot of work to do. To organize the exhibitions and travel to the places is a difficult job. I have focus on my work that I have to be produced in 2013 and 2014. My upcoming exhibition is a collaborative show with a Japanese artist and I have been working on for the last two and a half years and most recently I have been working with Atif Khan. So I have many side projects and than their is some separate work that I am doing these days. I have to maintain a balance when I am doing with my personal work or when working with other people.
Tell us about your upcoming exhibitions and what idea is behind your art-making?
The first was in solo exhibition was in 2007 here and the second in 2010. So this exhibition has all new work including some large drawings and a number of prints which I mainly draw during my travels.
