Jeff Kowatch

Jeff Kowatch (born 1965 in Los Angeles) is an American painter.

Works Kowatch is an abstract painter. His work is inspired by religion, literature, landscape, and the history of painting, and forms a chronological series of paintings and drawings.

Beginning Jeff Kowatch is born in a middle-class American family of Italian, Hungarian and Irish ascent. His family was not very fond of art. Kowatch started painting thanks to his parents' neighbor, who used to paint in her garage. Then, at the age of ten, Kowatch's mother registered him in an oil painting class that took place in an arts and crafts supply shop.

Technique Kowatch has developed a glazing technique inspired by the old Flemish masters, especially by Rembrandt, whose medium recipe he has adopted. This gives his paintings a lot of depth.

Inspiration and series During his childhood in California, Kowatch has been deeply marked by his catholic upbringing. From his late teenage years, he developed a need for spirituality, that he expressed through painting. His early series were thus inspired by religious themes: Apostles (1989-1994), BVM (The Blessed Virgin Mary, 1994–1998), Salome (1998-2002) and Thou Shalt (2003).

His following series were an homage to the old masters, entitled Riffs on Old Masters (2003-2004). He also completed two series inspired by landscapes, Status Mountainous Cumulus (2006-2009) and Ponds (2012-2013).

Literature is also a source of inspiration for Kowatch. Two of his series are entitled Don Quixote

From 2016, Kowatch has been inspired by the themes of the circus and carnival. He produced his largest painting, Christ Leaving Brussels, in response to James Ensor's The Entry of Christ Into Brussels.

In 2018, the Full Circle series pursued the circus and carnival themes. The same year, Galerie La Forest Divonne and Galerie Faider joined forces in Brussels to show two exhibitions of those works. Michel Draguet (Director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts) talks of passion and ardour, while Claude Lorent writes about art works "monumental, powerful […] expressionist by the graphic strength, tonic and fervent".

From 2020 to 2021, Kowatch develops a series called Man Jok, a reference to his zen buddhism name, which he received after years of practice. Roger Pierre Turine evokes the paintings sonority, serenity and their balance between movement, colours and composition, Works in public collections Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Belgium