about me

it's always difficult to write something about yourself, so i try to keep it short and simple.

born 1980 in lienz, east tyrol, i moved to innsbruck at the end of 1996. i changed school and started playing football for the fc tirol innsbruck. completed my high school diploma in 1998 and signed my first contract as a professional football player. during my 16 year lasting sports career, i enjoyed drawing, especially after football games. with watercolors, pastels or just some pencil. it was a great way to silence and block out the game scenes still running through my head and get it all cleared up.

2014 i quit playing football, completed the uefa coaching a-license, undertook a graphic design education, started spending even more time in front of the canvas and finally found my own unique technique and style. to ensure my work is viewed without any bias from my past as a professional athlete, I chose to release my art under the pseudonym kowalski

paper surfaces or canvases in kowalski’s paintings become spaces where contradictions, social criticism, and the security thinking of our sociocultural structure are consciously are displayed before the eyes. the works depict events and familiar moments from the media and pop culture, which, through mask-like, almost parodic exaggeration, have a humorous and thought-provoking effect. formal and purely visual elements are mentally or emotionally interconnected, similar to a novel or a narrative. much like a narrative, a painting sets boundaries and limits what we can add or interpret. due to different reasons i don’t like to leave backsides of paintings all blank, so i always put something special on the b-side of my artworks as well - adding sketches, collages, playful thoughts or simple facts about the main work. this creates an additional layer for the viewer and provides a deeper insight into my respective thought process.

currently i’m based in salzburg | austria. 

kowalski the penguin ?

no. my pseudonym dates back to 1998, when we gave each other nicknames on the graduation trip to greece - i got called kowalski and can’t exactly remember why. during my sports career i sometimes used the nickname to make anonymous reservations and so it has stuck over the years, partly because there are also many movie characters named kowalski - including clint eastwood in gran torino, george clooney in gravity, marlon brando in a streetcar named desire, barry newman in vanishing point and even an animated penguin in madagascar. there are some bars and restaurants named kowalski, glasses, shoes and a song by the band primal scream. i like it a lot because the name has no negative connotations and arouses a bit of curiosity.

i believe this aligns well with my creative process and the ideas I wish to express through my art. In general, my work isn’t born from pain, but rather from joy, often with a touch of fun and a wink.