Damon Kowarsky studied Advanced Figure Drawing under Godwin Bradbeer at RMIT in 1998. In the same year, he undertook an international exchange at Glasgow School of Art in Scotland completing a three month period in the Printmaking Department. In 2000 he completed his Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) Printmaking, at the Victorian College of the Arts. Since then he has tutored in printmaking at Brighton Artist's Society Printmaking workshop, been a courtroom illustrator for Melbourne’s Channel 9 news, and been a scientific illustrator with the Museum of Victoria. In 2002 he traveled to Egypt where he was an archaeological illustrator on the Dakhleh Oasis Project. He then completed a residency program at the Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt. His experiences in Egypt have had an obvious influence on his recent work.
In 2004 he was awarded an Australian Print Workshop Collie Print Trust Emerging Victorian Printmakers Scholarship. In late 2005 Kowarsky travelled through Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia. The unique and very distinctive architecture of the region, and the colours of mud and stone, found their way into much of the work made during 2006.
Most recently he has returned from four months living and working in Mexico, including time at
Taller Bambú, Oaxaca. Kowarsky says of Mexico, ‘It was an astonishing experience, and I was amazed at the richness
and variety of the local art and artesanía. Mexicans have an obvious love of the visual world
and fill their images with pun, humour and invention. Not to mention the glitz, glamour and
aesthetic free-for-all of the markets and fiestas.’
Kowarsky continues to print on a regular basis at the APW in Fitzroy. He is currently working towards future shows and travel in the Near East.
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