Approved: 17.10.2006

Jan Gaska

Artist, Technician

Approved: 17.10.2006

I am an English born artist of Polish descent. I finished my Fine Art degree in 1997 at Surrey Institute of Art & Design, specializing in printmaking. I went on to do a Masters in Printmaking & Illustration in 2000 at (then) Bucks Chilterns University (now called Bucks New University), finishing in 2003. In 2004 I started a 2 year printmaking residency at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell.

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Artist Statement

I am an English born artist of Polish descent. I finished my Fine Art degree in 1997 at Surrey Institute of Art & Design, specializing in printmaking. I went on to do a Masters in Printmaking & Illustration in 2000 at (then) Bucks Chilterns University (now called Bucks New University), finishing in 2003. In 2004 I started a 2 year printmaking residency at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell. I taught adult printmaking classes & kids’ workshops, as well special needs. My end of residency exhibition (‘Collective Nature’) was my first major solo exhibition at the Bracknell Gallery SHP. After my residency I worked as a gallery technician for South Hill Park, giving me the opportunity to work with different artists and gain an insight in their diverse practices, also giving me an understanding of myself as an artist & my place within the contemporary visual arts. I am currently a gallery technician for the New Ashgate Gallery. I am initially a printmaker working in etching, engraving, and relief printing, but have turned to painting in recent years. My work is figurative, realist in nature. I’m moved to create images that draw on social commentary taken from the fleeting glimpses of life that is constantly on the move around me. I record people in passing as a snapshot of the moment before it changes. I wish my work to invoke a story personal to viewer suggested through an open ended narrative. I use digitally manipulated photography as a starting point & as a reference. I am attracted to psychological characteristics within a photograph, of figures & how they relate with their environment, which sometimes seems to echo, enhance or contrast their inner states, & give a fixed sense of time & place. My recent paintings are of a more personal nature & depicting my family & snapshots of childhood. My work is informed by the likes of Edward Hopper, Carel Weight, Andrew Wyeth, Kathe Kollwitz, Goya & Hogarth to name a few.

CV & Education

Website: 

  • www.jangaska.co.uk

Employment:

  • 2005- 2010  Gallery Technician, South Hill Park Trust Ltd., Ringmead, Bracknell,  Berkshire. RG12 7PA
  • 2013-  Gallery Technician, New Ashgate Gallery, Waggon Yard, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7PS

Education:

  • 2000-2003  Ma Illustration & Printmaking (Distinction), Bucks Chilterns University College, High Wycombe, Bucks.

  • 1994-1997  Ba hons. Fine Art (2.2), Surrey Institute of Art & Design, Farnham, Surrey.

Solo exhibitions:

  • 2007 - untitled, The Maltings, , Farnham, Surrey. 2006 - ‘Collective Nature’, South Hill Park, Ringmead, Bracknell, Berks. RG12 7PA
  • 2005 - ‘New Print Works’, Freud Bar/Gallery, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. WC2H 8JL 2005 -
  • 2005 - 'A Sense of Place’ , South Hill Park, Ringmead, Bracknell, Berks.
  • 2005 - 'Prints 2000-2005', Hilton Hotel, Ringmead, Bracknell, Berks. RG12 7PA
  • 2004 - ‘Urban Narrative’, Lauderdale House, Highgate Hill, Waterlow Park, London. H6 5HG 2004 - Urban Narratives, Stables Gallery, London
  • 2004 - 'Urban Narratives', Black Swan Arts, Bridge St., Frome, Somerset. BA11 1BB

Group exhibitions:

  • 2013 - '3 Contemporaries', The Cloisters, SJE Arts, St. Stephen's House, 109 Iffley Road, Oxford. OX4 1EH.
  • 2013 - 'Artists in Residence Retrospective', South Hill Park, Ringmead, Bracknell,  Berkshire,  RG12 7PA. 
  • 2011 - 'Rudolf Steiner School Contemporary Art Fair', Rudolf Steiner School, Kings Langley
  • 2008 - 'Landscape Returned and Reconsidered' , South Hill Park, Ringmead, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 7PA
  • 2007 - ‘Originals 07’, The Mall Galleries, , The Mall, London. SW1 2007 -
  • 2007- 'Wrexham Print International Biennale', Wrexham Arts Centre, Rhosddu Road, Wrexham. LL11 1AU
  • 2004 - ‘Discerning Eye’, The Mall Galleries, , The Mall, London. SW1
  • 2004 - ‘Graduate Show’, Jelly Leg’d Chicken Art Centre, The Oracle, Reading. RG1 2AG
  • 2004 - ‘Islington Contemporary Art & Design Fair’, Candid Arts Trust, , Torrens St., London. EC1V 1NQ
  • 2003 - ‘Fresh Art’, Business Design Centre, Islington, London N1
  • 2003 - ‘Society of Graphic Fine Arts 82nd Annual Open Exhibition’, Hotbath Gallery, , Hotbath St., Bath.

Residencies:

  • 2005 - Artist in Residence / Teacher, Alternative Education Northbrook Pru, Slough, Berkshire 2004 - Printmaker in Residence, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, Berkshire Educational experience
  • 2005- East-West Artist Meeting/symposium (Plener), Gallery of Art Dwor Karwacjanow, Gorlice, Poland,