(San Anselmo, CA) Garvey|Simon is pleased to present Kacper Kowalski: Above, on view April 25 through June 24, 2023. The exhibition features a selection of abstract aerial landscape photographs from Kowalski’s bird’s eye lens. All of the artist’s photographs are taken by hand from a self-piloted gyrocopter and observe his native Poland from a lofty perspective. Kacper Kowalski: Above follows his solo exhibition at San Francisco International Airport. A preview of the exhibition will be on view in our booth B-05 at Art Market | San Francisco, April 20 –23.

Closing reception tonight, Saturday, June 24th. From 5 – 7 pm at Garvey|Simon, 538 San Anselmo, CA 94960.

Conversation with Kacper Kowalski at 6 pm.

Want to join virtually?
For Remote viewers: Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89398050476?pwd=U2VmSjM0WTI3VjJ1YXhQYXNFUjZTdz09

Meeting ID: 893 9805 0476
Passcode: 795938

For inquiries, please reach catherine@garveysimon.com or to make an appointment 415-720-9252.

Kacper Kowalski began his career as a landscape photographer, far before the preeminence of drones or Google Earth, strapping himself into a gyrocopter and exploring his native Poland through the lens of a film camera. This repeated, almost ritualistic exploration of home became the foundation of his work. Kowalski observes the macro-evolution of the Polish landscape as it is progressively shaped and morphed by its inhabitants. Seasons shift rapidly in riots of color and pattern, humans leave intricate tracks in barren slates of snowfall, and in his series, “Toxic Beauty,” large-scale industry spills supernatural plumes of ash and smoke into the atmosphere, producing a painterly tableau of texture and light. Witnessed from 500 feet above, these instances of time and change are flattened and compressed into two-dimensional cross-sections like a microscope’s slide. At once massive and miniature, Kowalski teases out the universality in the patterns of change, showing the intrinsic link between people and land. Kowalski’s most recent series, “Event Horizon,” includes aerial images of bodies of water in Northern Poland, near his Tricity home. At once violent and tranquil, ghostly orbs of thawed ice float in an endless abyss, and craggy masses of ice sheets gnash at the water. Taken from a much higher altitude, these photographs are not only landscapes, but visual containers for the experience of flight. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kacper Kowalski (b. 1977, Poland) has been observing and photographing landscapes from an aerial perspective for over 25 years. After becoming an architect and having worked in the profession for four years, he eventually decided to commit to flying and photography - his true passions. Kowalski is a paraglider, as well as a pilot of small aircrafts - specifically the gyrocopter, a self-propelled, open cockpit flying machine, sometimes referred to as a “motorbike of the sky.” Altogether he has spent over 5000 hours in the air, photographing consistently from 500 feet above ground level. Although often fighting with wind and air currents, his solo flights induce an almost meditative state, when nature and his surroundings reveal abstract forms like a language of symbols. The flight is for Kowalski not only a way to capture the world beneath, but also means a spiritual journey that reveals universal truths about the relationship between man and nature, about the past and the present, and about one’s own personal truth and the way to get there. His work has been exhibited in hundreds of group and solo shows worldwide, and he has received numerous awards, including the World Press Photo award (three times), the Picture of the Year International POYi award (six times), and dozens of others. His first book, Side Effects, was published in 2014, OVER was self-published in 2017, followed by Arché in 2021. His most recent body of work, Event Horizon, is in the final round of the Sony World Photography Award. For inquiries regarding sales, press packets, or high-resolution images, please contact Catherine Simon at catherine@garveysimon.com, or Elizabeth Garvey at liz@garveysimon.com, or call 917-796-2146.