Jaroslaw Piech: “European Impressions”
Oil canvases that speak of European landscapes, soft, impressionistic, quick strokes and vibrant colors. These are the words that best define this Baltimore artist’s works, that centerpiece the pastoral tranquility of Europe’s harvests, forests, meadows and rivers. They provide the viewer with a sense of traveling to a foreign land, yet so familiar; you think you have already been there.
Jarek, as he is best know to his friends and collectors, was born in Poland, and as a young man studied at the Krakow Art Academy in Lubrin between 1981 and 1984, and under the personal mentorship of world-renowned artist Jon Prezebirowski. He specialized in oil on canvas and traveled throughout Europe exhibiting his art on the streets of Gdansk and Warszawa from 1978 to 1985. He then moved on to Hamburg, Germany, selling his artwork to tourists and collectors.
In 1987, he went to Lyon, France, where he continued studying, evolving and selling to pay for additional art classes studying French oil methods acquiring some impressionist techniques along the way. The streets of Rome also saw his colorful palettes on water reflections and autumn trees.
And, all those sales paid the trip to America. To earn a living in his new country, he worked as an electrician, supported his family, had a son, and continued painting, never forgetting his many years in the art streets of Europe where he traveled the countryside painting castles and mountains, and boats and water, always painting nature.
It is now time for Baltimore and America to welcome this new American with a European heart and memories on canvas that bring European impressions to our own hearts. And… as time goes by, he may start painting American landscapes with a touch of European impressions.
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