BOHDAN OSYCZKA Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1932 - d. 1985

Bohdan Osyczka was born in Herkimer, New York. He studied at the Vesper George School of Art, Boston; Syracuse University; and the Art Students League, New York. From 1970-94 he was a faculty member of the Parsons School of Design, New York.

The sheer visual power of Bohdan's Osyczka's watercolors are a revelation to those who still think of the medium as "minor." With the help of specially-made papers and a custom designed tilting worktable, these mammoth works burst with color and vibrancy. Although clearly related to the color-field paintings of his generation, to Osyczka the works have more in common with performance art. The audacity, gesture and exuberance of the paintings reflect the artist's efforts to produce them: rolling, pitching, pouring, speckling and spattering paint, they are a tour-de-force of artistic energy. Note: Bohdan Osyczka employs a formula for the titles of his paintings: "year WN (Watercolor Nonobjective)/number in sequence within that year." Thus, 88 WN/16 is a nonobjective watercolor, the sixteenth work made in 1988.