Henry Kondracki Biography

“The vibrant mark making and invigorating brushstrokes on the layered surface of these evocative paintings do not merely describe quotidian visual reality, but also release the hidden life and vital form beyond mundane appearances. With deft subtlety of art and craft, passing itself off as simplicity of effect, Kondracki merges form and content in his paintings to miraculously create and reveal a new pictorial world – not the usual one of our dulled consciousness, but another, which magically transports us back to our most treasured memories and cherished dreams.”

Bill Hare, ‘Realism and Revelation: The Art of Henry Kondracki’, 2008

Edinburgh born Henry Kondracki studied and qualified with a 1^st class honours degree at The Slade School of Fine Art in London and is now based in his home city. It’s in Edinburgh that he seeks his inspiration, primarily focusing on the changing faces of the city and it’s denizens, capturing familiar scenes afresh. In he’s own words ‘you register something in your mind and you try and sort of reinvent it somehow’

The recipient of several awards including The Scottish Arts Council Award (1978); The Slade Prize in Fine Art (two years consecutively in 1985 and 1986); Cheltenham Drawing Prize (1999) and 1^st place in The Hunting Art Prize (2004)

He’s works are widely exhibited in the United Kingdom and abroad with numerous sole exhibitions such as The Artist’s Collective Gallery, Edinburgh (1984 and 1992); Vanessa Devereux Gallery, London (1987 and 1989); Michael Wardell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (1988); ‘Kondracki’s Edinburgh’ Flowers West, Santa Monica, California (2000), Flowers Gallery , New York (2007) and Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall (2008)

Several of his works are also included in renowned collections including The Arts Council of Great Britain, City Arts Centre in Edinburgh, Glasgow City Museums and Galleries, London Guildhall, Royal Bank of Scotland, University College London and Virgin Atlantic.

Henry Kondracki Biography in detail:

Timeline

1953                Born in Edinburgh

1978                Scottish Arts Council, Materials and Costs Award

1979                Scottish Arts Council, Minor Bursary

1981-2             Byam Shaw School of Art, London

1982-6             Slade School of Fine Art, London. BA in Fine Art (First Class Honours)

1983                The Sir William Coldstream Prize at the Slade Whitworth Young

1983                Contemporaries, a prize from the Granada Foundation, Manchester

1984                The Rodney Burn Prize at the Slade for best figurative work in the session 1983-84

1985                Slade Prize in Fine Art for the session 1984-85

1986                Slade Prize in Fine Art for the session 1985-86

1991                Spectator/Adam & Co. Art Prize-Travel Fresh Horizons

1995                Prize Winner – John Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

1997                Noble Grossard, Scotland on Sunday (third prize)

1999                Cheltenham Drawing Prize

2004                Hunting Art Prize

Exhibitions

2007                New York Skylines to Sidewalks, Flowers, New York

2005                Hyman, Kondracki, Osuga, Flowers East, London

2005                Angela Flowers Gallery, 35th Anniversary Exhibition, Flowers East, London

2004                Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London

2004                Hunting Art Prize Exhibition, London

2004                Small is Beautiful, Flowers Central, London

2004                Singer & Friedlander Watercolour Competition, Mall Galleries, London

2004                The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh

2003                Flowers Central, London

2003                Small is Beautiful, Flowers Central, London

2003                Hunting Art Prize Exhibition, London

2003                Angela Flowers, Ireland

2003                Small is Beautiful: War and Peace, Flowers Central, London

2003                Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London

2002                Small is Beautiful: Voyage, Flowers East London

2002                Flowers 8, Flowers Central, London

2002                Flowers 9, Flowers Central, London

2001                Hunting Group Competition

2001                12 British Painters, Flowers West, Santa Monica, California

2001                Flowers 6, Flowers Central, London

2001                Flowers 7, Flowers Central, London

2001                Small is Beautiful, Flowers East, London

2001                Aberdeen Artists, Aberdeen Arts Centre

2001                Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London

2001                Aberdeen Artists, Aberdeen Arts Centre

2001                Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London

2001                Flowers East, London

2000                Flowers West, Santa Monica, California

2000                30th Anniversary Exhibition, Flowers East, London

2000                Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London

1999                British Figurative Art Part 3: Works on Paper, Flowers East, London

1998                Flowers East, London

1997                Bellevue Gallery, Edinburgh

1997                British Figurative Art Part I: Painting, Flowers East, London

1996                Flowers East at London Fields, London

1995                Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

1995                Kondracki, Hyman & Osuga, Flowers East, London

1994                William Jackson Gallery, London

1992–93          Figure in the City, Talbot Rice Gallery, touring exhibition, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Brussels

1992                Artists’ Collective Gallery, Edinburgh

1991                Easter Road, William Jackson Gallery, London

1991                Director’s Choice, The Scottish Gallery, London

1988                Michael Wardell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

1986                Peter Moores Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

 

Literature

1995                ‘Street life at Gallery M’, James Hobbs