Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anthony Kosiakowski. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Anthony, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I always loved drawing…as far back as I can remember, and as a matter of fact I recently found some drawings from when I was five or six in my sisters house. Drawing is where it all started, it’s the foundation of everything I do, it’ll always be my favorite part of the painting process, and in a way it’s the answer to all these questions.
In high school I had art classes where I was able to try different mediums. I went to public school and the funding to the arts (and shockingly even things as common as wood shop) were pretty nonexistent, so I learned some very basic painting with cheap tempera…poster paint was what it was called, its basically glue with some pigment in it passed off as “paint”,.. It. Is. Horrible. hahaha. But I have to hand it to my art teachers, they helped me get creative with whatever I could find lying around in the storage area of the classroom.
After high school I moved right to Philadelphia, I didn’t go to art school…But my friends did! And one fateful day after my old buddy finished his painting course he came into the room with a bag of acrylic paints and brushes and asked me if i wanted them because his painting course was finished and he no longer had use for them…I took the bag of paints and here we are!
If I could go back in time and give a foreboding piece of advice to myself like I was the Ghost of Christmas Past I would say, “FOCUS!!! …And keep your hands moving! Or Else!!!!”
All jokes aside, focus and movement are extremely essential! Once you have the idea you need to capture it, if you see it in your mind and want to put it on paper, canvas, film, etc. you need focus. And you need movement. Keep the hands moving. Think about dreams, you could be in a magical land talking to an old friend or have the most panic inducing nightmare, but how long after waking do you remember the details? Get to it! When you start that piece don’t stop movement until you’ve gotten it to where it belongs. If you hit a wall, stop, step back, and re-focus.
I love being challenged, drawing out an idea is my favorite part of the process, but when i can’t seem to get it right…whewwwww. It can be so frustrating. That’d be another thing I certainly would have done earlier, take a drawing class somewhere, once you start understanding the way perspective or anatomy work in drawing its a priceless key.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Hi, my name is Anthony Kosiakowski, I live in Philadelphia and I paint. Everything around me was an influence on my art. I was never really trained as a painter, I’ve just always loved making art and wanted to learn more. I tried to imitate what made me happy or excited, and those things were so varied that it made me experiment with different mediums and styles. Dripping, scrawled graffiti was just as important to me as Venetian paintings from the 15th century I’d see in books.
After years of working in acrylics, spray paint, and mixed media I decided to try my hand at oil painting. Working with oils is the most rewarding form of painting. It’s more permanent, yet more forgiving…It has a feeling, it has a flexibility, you can really do anything with it. When I start a piece it becomes an adventure. It can completely deviate from where it was intended to go, or it could stay on a straight and narrow path to its intended destination. Each piece has its own life and like any life, it’s a big experiment.
I’m always looking for a new experiment/experience. At the moment I’m in a group exhibit at Funhouse Gallery and earlier in the month I was in the Step Outside group show at Huddle Gallery here in Philadelphia. It was such a cool feeling being in two back to back shows where one was all street art and the other was fine art. Talk about swelling with pride, it was such an honor being in both those incredible shows.
What I always tell people that are interested in my work is check my IG or website, if something excites you reach out! This is my passion, I’ve done murals, album covers, portraits…If it involves paint I’m into it and if it’s an exciting idea let’s do something with it! I want to be doing this until I can’t see anymore hahahaha.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Absolutely! When I was starting out painting there was so much trial and error, and that still can be the case at times, but I really had the “I can figure it out myself” mentality…It’s a fine mentality to have, the only problem is painting can be tricky. Can you imagine your dentist” just figured it out”?!? No way!!!! hahaha. There are courses in community college that I eventually took that were incredible! Learning the foundations of painting and drawing are so important. Any community art centers that do life drawing courses, they are incredible resources! There was a place here in Philadelphia that did ones for like twenty dollars…and there was a teacher walking around explaining what you were getting wrong. That’s incredible! I love them! seek them out! They still exist!
Also, if you don’t have a library card, you need to get right. If you are an artist, and particularly an artist in a major city, GET. A. LIBRARY. CARD. Don’t scoff at that like I’m your Grandmama/papa! You can find so many resources…ahem, FREE RESOURCES! Books that are out of print, rare, etc. I’ve sat in the Main Library here in Philly throughout the years on many hot summer days just looking at books of paintings, reading, drawing from the books…And its all free! How punk is that?!?! haha.
and one final thought, if a library isn’t accessible, Internet Archive is a lovely resource I wish I found out about/or existed when I started. That site has books and videos about a whole range of subjects, not just visual art.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think something that people might not understand is the passion to keep creating. I believe everyone creates, but they probably don’t put in the time that someone who is a “creative” puts in. The whole idea of someone being a “natural” or some kind of savant is bunk…It’s stuff from movies. Most people need to really practice at something or at least have some kind of discipline or dedication to achieve any real goal. Even if the talent isn’t there from the get go they have a certain vision that they want to convey to the world and they figure out how to make it materialize.
I’ve been at this for a long time now, I’ve tried to move away from being a creative and do something like work myself silly or lose myself in some oblivion. I always kept creating throughout all of it, even if at times it was all fits and starts. I used to get bummed about chances I blew because of youthful arrogance or plain old bad behavior, or time I wasted doing other things that seemed important when they were happening, but I feel like everything just shook out in the wash. Now I see things from the perspective that I made all those moves to influence what I do. There are so many people, and places, and strange experiences, good and bad, that reoccur in my work. I’m thankful for that, I still wake up and think about painting or drawing…even as I’m writing this I have the piece I started last night bouncing around in my head.
If you feel passionate about something keep pursuing it, whatever medium or aspect of life that may be. Get your vision out into the world!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://anthonykosiakowski.net
- Instagram: @obscurepathsaliensequences
Image Credits
Marlena Masitto-image one