ARTIST BIO

Polish born artist Agnes (Agnieszka) Kokot was exiled to Canada during her native country’s political upheaval in 1982. She lived in Calgary AB Canada for much of her childhood before moving to Edmonton AB Canada in 1999. She moved to Dallas TX USA in 2006 and lived there for three years before making a return to Edmonton where she currently resides with her husband and three children.

Agnes showed promise and interest in the visual arts from an early age. During the final year of high school she was awarded several scholarships including the prestigious Eaton Scholarship in 1994 and 1995 worth a total of $7000. Her scholarship awards encouraged her to attend the painting program at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary AB Canada.

Four years later Agnes graduated with a BFA and was ready to undertake a professional art career. She was quickly represented by West End Gallery in Edmonton AB Canada and in their sister gallery in Victoria BC Canada for three years.

For the next 17 years, Agnes decided to commit and focus her time and energy on her family, her home and on travel, renovating/redesigning four homes and gardens and painting primarily for herself when she was able to.

In Oct of 2019, Agnes made the commitment to return to her art career and has been prolific even during the challenges of a pandemic. Since then, Agnes has managed to produce a diverse catalogue of paintings, celebrating themes of still life, florals and the figure, even taking on portrait commissions.

Today Agnes’ work is enjoyed in numerous international, private and corporate collections.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Just as a dancer must move, a musician must play, an actor must lose themselves in a role; a painter must paint. Artists have a drive, an instinct to express what they feel, what they see, what they hear. Yet it is with eyes and ears that are tuned to a different frequency. They have a facility, a propensity that makes them unique. It is not an ability to worship or put on a pedestal, but it is something to appreciate, to celebrate.

A painter, an excellent painter, has eye-hand coordination to envy. An innate sense of perspective, depth, a highly developed understanding of colour and material manipulation. It is one part gift, one part practice, one part compulsion, one part ambition and many parts self-motivation. When an artist creates a thing, and it touches another person, a connection is made. Joy is sparked. A sense of wonder is stirred. And a relationship has been born. Between the artist and the viewer, the artist and the appreciator. Once a person opens themselves to supporting and encouraging artists, an artist finds their bliss.

An artist thrives on that connection and works hard to strike a meaningful balance between pleasing themselves and their audience. Agnes is acutely aware of that delicate balance. She seeks out beauty, it moves her, inspires and challenges her. But she does not replicate or copy beauty. She interprets, imagines and enhances what moves her. Whether it be flowers, faces, a field, she finds the essence and distills it down to fluid brushstrokes and complementing colour. She plays with her medium, there is delight and ebullience in her compositions, she avoids formula by constantly challenging herself. She is comfortable and confident in her skills, but she does not stay within a comfort zone. And it is that willingness to experiment, even with artistic conventions, that makes her standout as a painter, and why people gravitate to her work.

Agnes comes from a country and culture steeped in beauty and artistic prowess that is renowned worldwide. It informs her thought process; it fuels her incredible work ethic. Yet she is fully of the country she now calls home. A country of simple pleasures, open spaces and immigrant experiences. She has a beautiful family she treasures, but she also prioritizes her need to paint. There have been ebbs and flow with her production, but time spent away has only enriched her abilities and vision. She is a mature painter, but with a childlike eagerness to get going and truly find her voice. Every day, every work, is a step further on her journey, self-discovery is a lifelong pursuit. Art has always been a part of her life and an artist does not just want to create art; they want life to be art. Agnes nurtures and nourishes her art, and the world is the better for it.