Leon Tarasewicz (born March 14, 1957, in Waliły) is a Polish painter of Belarusian descent, professor of fine arts, and academic teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
He graduated from the Secondary School of Fine Arts in Supraśl and later from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he studied under Tadeusz Dominik (he received his diploma in 1984). Since 1996, he has led a guest painting studio at the same institution. He became a lecturer in painting space at the Faculty of Media Art and Stage Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. In 2011, the President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, awarded him the title of Professor of Fine Arts.
He collaborates with the Foksal Gallery and Monopol Gallery in Warsaw, the Arsenal Gallery in Białystok, the Krynki Gallery in Krynki, the Ego Gallery in Poznań, and the Biała Gallery in Lublin. In 2008, he became an ambassador of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
He emphasizes his Belarusian roots and promotes the culture of this minority in Poland.
Leon Tarasewicz’s painting uniquely reflects the beauty and colors of nature, drawing on the complex history of the borderland.
The most comprehensive bibliography of publications (and filmography) about him can be found in the catalog of the 2003 exhibition at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art.
In 2005, during a ceremony at the opening concert of the season at the Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic in Białystok, he was awarded the Silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis by Minister of Culture Waldemar Dąbrowski.
In 2011, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
He has also received the Polityka Passport (2000), the Jan Cybis Award (1998), and the Zofia and Jerzy Nowosielski Foundation Award. In 2007, Tarasewicz received the Grand Prize of the Culture Foundation for 2006 for consistently challenging both the traditional understanding of painting and all conventions of understanding art. In 2014, he received the Honorary Pearl of the Polish Economy (in the culture category), awarded by the editorial team of Polish Market.
In 2022, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Białystok.