Leon Tarasewicz

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.

Selected Exhibitions:

2018 – "Jerusalem", Foksal Gallery, Warsaw; Exhibition of Leon Tarasewicz’s works at the Museum of Architecture in Wrocław
2017 – Academy of Supraśl exhibition, Arsenał Gallery
2016 – "Leon Tarasewicz", EGO Gallery, Poznań
2015/2016 – "Art for Place. Modry. Leon Tarasewicz", Silesian Museum, Katowice
2015 – "Leon Tarasewicz. Painting Installation", National Museum in Kraków
2014 – "Painting", State Gallery of Art, Sopot; "Open Doors", Ego Gallery, Poznań
2013 – "The Borders of Painting – The Borders of the Gallery", Biała Gallery, Lublin
2011 – Installation, Artists’ Square, Kielce
2007 – Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom; "Leon Tarasewicz – Polish Institute in Budapest", Museums of Art and Cultural History, Lübeck
2006 – Biała Gallery in Lublin; Foksal Gallery in Warsaw
2004 – Biała Gallery in Lublin
2003 – Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw; "The Magnificent Seven", Contemporary Art Gallery BWA in Olsztyn; "Tarasewicz for Poznań", spatial installation on the colonnade of the Grand Theatre in Poznań
2002 – "The Silence of the Image – Strzemiński – Opałka – Tarasewicz", National Museum in Szczecin
2001 – Ego Gallery in Poznań; Biała Gallery in Lublin; 49th International Biennale in Venice; "Here & Now", Zachęta National Gallery of Art; Gary Tatintsian Gallery in New York; Springer & Winckler Gallery in Berlin; Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm; Galleria del Cavallino in Venice
2000 – "Art Negotiators", Art Center in Minsk; Centre for Contemporary Art Łaźnia in Gdańsk; Neuruppiner Kunstraum in Neuruppin (Germany); Gary Tatintsian Gallery in New York
1999 – Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw; Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm; DAP Gallery in Warsaw; "White Art", Arsenał Gallery in Poznań
1998 – "Oikos", Regional Museum in Bydgoszcz; Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw; Springer & Winckler Gallery in Berlin; Mettalinde Gallery in Lübeck
1997 – Galerij S 65 in Aalst (Belgium); Biała Gallery in Lublin; Mettalinde Gallery in Lübeck; Gallery Stotrzynaście in Białystok; "Horizons", Chosun Ilbo Gallery in Seoul; "Nowosielski, Smoczyński, Tarasewicz", Art Center in Warsaw
1996 – Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw; Springer & Winckler Gallery in Frankfurt; Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm
1995 – Biała Gallery in Lublin; Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom; Arsenał Gallery in Białystok; BWA Gallery in Katowice; Foksal Gallery in Warsaw
1994 – "Crack in Space", Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw; Springer & Winckler Gallery in Frankfurt; Foksal Gallery in Warsaw
1993 – Palace of Art in Minsk; Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm; Springer & Winckler Gallery in Frankfurt; "Balance Sheet – Balance", Biała Gallery in Lublin
1992 – "Collection of 20th Century Polish Painting", National Museum in Warsaw; "Collection of International 20th Century Art", Museum of Art in Łódź; Springer & Winckler Gallery in Frankfurt
1991 – Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Krzysztofory Gallery in Kraków; Regional Museum in Białystok; Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm; Foksal Gallery in Warsaw; "Tre giovani artisti", Galleria del Cavallino in Venice; "Europe Unknown", Palace of Art in Kraków; "David Nash & Leon Tarasewicz", Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw
1990 – Fahnemann Gallery in Berlin; "Polen Zeit Kunst" – Berlin, Mainz, Warsaw; Festival of Contemporary Art in Cagnes-sur-Mer; Biennale Balticum in Rome
1989 – "Dialogue", Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf; Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm; Galleria del Cavallino in Venice
1988 – "Polish Art of the 20th Century", National Museum in Warsaw; "Aperto '88", Venice Biennale; "Kunstolympiade", National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul (Korea); "Art at the Edge", Museum of Modern Art in Oxford; "Polish Realities", Third Eye Center in Glasgow (Scotland); National Museum in Wrocław; Foksal Gallery in Warsaw; Palace of Art in Minsk
1987 – "Locus Solus", Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm; Edward Thorp Gallery in New York; Damon Brandt Gallery in New York; Arsenał Gallery in Białystok; 19th International Biennale of Art in São Paulo (Brazil)
1986 – Nordenhake Gallery in Stockholm; Galleria del Cavallino in Venice; Nordenhake Gallery in Malmö
1985 – Foksal Gallery in Warsaw; "Diplomas '84", BWA Gallery in Wrocław; Biała Gallery in Lublin
1984 – Foksal Gallery in Warsaw

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