Paul Karnowski

Paul Karnowski is an artist, a poet, and a retired art teacher. He lives on a few acres just north of Asheville, North Carolina along with his dog Bingo. He spends his days growing flowers, vegetables, paintings and poems. His poems have been featured in Kakalak 24, Wild Root, Witcraft and the North Carolina Poetry Society program, Poetry in Plain Sight. One of his paintings recently appeared on the cover of the online journal, COOP. Through the years his paintings were featured in a number of one-person and group shows in the Atlanta area.

Artist’s Statement

Through the years, I have painted a number of pieces based on the simple game of tic-tac-toe. I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that humankind thinks answers (and winning) can be found in binary thinking. My paintings look at the x’s and o’s of life in a more measured way, acknowledging opposites, asking questions, but not presuming to provide an answer. Some are pithy and straightforward; others are more ambiguous.  My work exhibits both a playful and serious side influenced, I think, by spending twenty-five years teaching art to K-5 students. I also acknowledge the influence of a quote from Jasper Johns: “Take an object, do something to it, do something else to it.” His words have served as a mantra for much of my work. To see more, visit my website at paulkarnowski.com.