"I started painting a landscape, but then I thought it was a little uninteresting and so I added a human figure, which changed the canvas totally," says Krzysztof Krzych about one of his oil paintings on display at the Gallery of the Regional Culture Center in Ko這brzeg.

Over the past several years, Krzych has made a name for himself as a pastel painter-he is a member of the Association of Polish Pastellists-and his works have been regularly exhibited at the Nationwide Pastel Biennial in Nowy S帷z in southern Poland. This time, however, Krzych has revealed himself a skilled painter in oils. The exhibition in Ko這brzeg features over 20 oil paintings on canvas. Krzych explores several subjects, including women, mostly nudes, landscape and abstraction. His expressive paintings throb with colors. Krzych is confident with color, freely combining yellows and purples or blues and pinks. His paintings are like emotions recorded in bold brush strokes.

Landscape details, which are not prominent at first glance, are like signs entangled in seemingly abstract elements that after closer inspection turn out to be tree branches, flowers and colorful meadows.

Krzych, born in 1956, is a graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Arts in Katowice, a branch of the Fine Arts Academy in Cracow. He is a painter, graphic artist and designer and is also a respected teacher at the Visual Arts School in Jaros豉w, which he is heading. He is also known for his portraits, most of which he paints in pastels.

Dariusz Pietrzak
Ko這brzeg, Regional Culture Center, 1 Solna St., until Oct. 31