ATLAS is delighted to present the first solo show of Polish photographer Kacper Kowalski at the Gallery. The exhibition will bring together works from some of Kowalski’s earliest series: Depth of Winter (2010), Toxic Beauty (2011), Side Effects (2011) and Over (2016), as well as works from his most recent and complentative bodies of work: Arché (2021) and Event Horizon (2022).
Kacper Kowalski (b. 1977, Poland) has been observing and photographing landscapes from an aerial perspective around Gdynia in Poland for over 25 years. After working as an architect for four years, he decided to commit to flying and photography – his true passions. As a paraglider, a pilot of small aircrafts and a gyrocopter, Kowalski flies into the air with an engine strapped to his back to discover and document the world from above. Kowalski has spent over 5000 hours in the air, braving any and all weather conditions. When he photographs from 150m above ground level, he finds himself in an almost meditative state. The flight is for Kowalski not only a way to capture the world beneath, but it becomes a spiritual journey that reveals universal truths about the relationship between man and nature, about the past and the present, and about one’s own personal truth and the way to get there.
Working in both colour and black and white, Kowaslki’s photographs offer viewers a new interpreation of our world, revealing perspectives of landscapes that are inaccessible to most people. Black tire tracks in the white snow, birds flying above a darkned body of turquoise water, dense forests covered with the year’s first snow, dried and crackled lands, or shimmering structures of ice, his abstract photographs often look more like paintings than photographs and immerse us into a universe defined by forms, shapes and patterns. Kowaslki’s photographs often show signs of human life, reminding us of our own presence in this world and the impact that we have on it.
In Toxic Beauty, as the name implies it, Kowalksi sets out to find beauty in what shouldn’t be considered beautiful; pollution, deforestation and environmental degredation. From his high vantage point he is able to document the impact of sulfur and nitrogen power plants and mines imprinted on the landscapes. The results are arresting. Through his magnetic compositions, he simultaneoulsy seduce the viewer with their natural beauty and raises questions about our civilisation and the very essential relationship between man and nature.
Kowalski continues to explore the complicated relationship between humans and nature in Side Effects. Acting as a parallel body of work where he is an “a mission to reveal the unknown, unseen world to people, to record a portrait of civilisation on a high”. In Arché (2021) and Event Horizon (2022) Kowalski dives back in the depth of winter, setting out on a meditative journey, photographing winter phenomenons. When lake’s freeze in the winter, bubbles of methane are trapped in the water, as the temperatures warm, the methane is released and pierces through the thin sheets of ice. Kowalski photographs this spectacle and the incredible shapes and forms that are created as a result, changing the landscape before his eyes. These icy silhouettes are elusive, transforming and disappearing from one moment to the next, almost mythological, and only to be captured through Kowalski’s lense.
Kowalski’s unique approche to documenting the world surrounding us, which we often take for granted, grounds us in its elegance and beauty. The landscapes he choses to see and capture on camera are an emotional exploration in the form of abstract works of art that are only achievable from his studio in the sky.
“With the onset of winter, I embarked on a journey in search of harmony. Driven by instinct, I ventured further and further, until I exceeded the limits of rationality.” - Kacper Kowalski
Kowalski has received numerous awards, including the Sony World Photography Awards (2023), the World Press Photo award, the Picture of the Year International POYi award to name a few. He has published multiple books , Side Effects (2014), OVER (2017), Arché (2021), and his most recent Event Horizon (2022). His works have been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions internationally in France, the United Kingdom, the Nertherlands, Italy, Poland, and in the United States.
