The Santa Paula Art Museum is pleased to announce the opening of From the Classics to Plein Air, an exhibition of art from Ventura artist, Tony Jankowski. The Museum is located at 117 North 10th Street in historic downtown Santa Paula. The exhibition will run through August 15.
Tony Jankowski was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Lithuanian parents. His mother, a former teacher, exposed him to European Masters, and encouraged him to draw and paint at an early age. At age five, he painted his first watercolor. Jankowski took up traditional oil painting at age 13. His paintings have been shown in galleries throughout the United States and Central and South America.
While working toward a degree in engineering at the University of Buenos Aires, Jankowski studied privately with several of Argentina’s leading artists. He was not surprised to find that the engineering and art studies intertwined in many instances. “Da Vinci was an engineer,” Jankowski notes. “By that I certainly do not mean to compare myself to Da Vinci, but to show the basic relationship between art that is exciting to the eye and engineering that is the backbone of nearly everything the artist paints.” That is a relationship in which Jankowski believes deeply and which forms that foundation for his use of color, lines, and form.
Continuing his art studies, Jankowski spent several years living and traveling throughout South America and Europe. He came to the United States where he met Santa Barbara artist, Claude Buck. Buck utilized the techniques of the Old Masters all his life, and it was he who got Jankowski especially interested in the depiction of nature as a vital moving force. After 10 years of study with Buck, Jankowski had received, in Bucks words, “the equivalent to an education from the Chicago Art Institute.” Jankowski uses these techniques of dynamic symmetry and golden proportions in his paintings. He says, “Essentially, it is a combination of mathematical proportions and values that will result in a painting with a golden paint that will please the eye.
Jankowski’s paintings have been shown at leading galleries throughout the United States, Central and South America.
For further information about the Santa Paula Art Museum please call 805-525-5554 or email them at SantaPaulaArtMuseum@verizon.net.