Damon Kowarsky studied printmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts and Glasgow School of Art, and Advanced Figure Drawing with Godwin Bradbeer at RMIT. He graduated in 2000 from VCA with a BFA [Honours] in Printmaking.

Since graduating he has exhibited regularly in Australia and internationally and worked as an archaeological, courtroom, and scientific illustrator. In 2002 he assisted on an archaeological dig at Dakhleh Oasis in the western deserts of Egypt and undertook a residency at Townhouse Gallery Cairo. On returning to Australia he received a 2004 Australian Print Workshop Collie Print Trust Emerging Victorian Printmakers Scholarship.

Kowarsky has travelled extensively in North Africa, West Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. The unique and very distinctive architecture of these regions and the colours of sky and earth inspire much of his work.

In 2007 he undertook residencies at RMIT through its Project Space/ Visual Arts Printmaking Summer Residency program and Megalo Access Arts Canberra.

In 2008 Kowarsky returned to Australia after six months in Pakistan, teaching drawing to first year students at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, and studying miniature painting under Murad Mumtaz and Mahreen Zuberi.

He recently received the Toyota Community Spirit Artist Travel Award. This will be used to undertake residencies in Cairo and Barcelona, a solo exhibition in New Zealand, and exploratory visits to San Francisco, Singapore and New York. Over a four month period Kowarsky will explore, make drawings of urban environments, visit museums, and engage with local cultural institutions. The material gathered will form the basis of the following year’s studio work in Melbourne, and future exhibitions in Australia and abroad.

Solo Exhibitions

2008 Sur Dickerson Gallery Melbourne
Under a Jaguar Sun Impressions on Paper Gallery Canberra

2007 Home and Away Alhamra Art Gallery Lahore
From the Empty Quarter Joshua McClelland Print Room
Travels Dickerson Gallery Melbourne

2006 Etchings Intrude Contemporary Art

2005 New Works Joshua McClelland Print Room
Stranger in a Strange Land Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008 2nd Bangkok International Print Triennale Silpakorn University, Thailand
New Prints International Print Center New York
Mask Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery
Six Ply Megalo Print Studio and Gallery
Fresh Cream Alhamra Art Gallery

2007 The Body RMIT Project Space/ Spare Room
50 Geelong Art Gallery
Printmaking JennyPort Gallery

2006 Arrivals Solander Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Revenants Impressions on Paper Gallery
Postcards from Tomorrow Toyota Community Spirit Gallery

2005 Transit Australian Print Workshop
He – Who Inspires Walker Street Gallery
Chiaroscuro Chiara Goya Gallery

2004 Impressions 2004 Australian Print Workshop

2002 Grafinnova 2002 Ostrobothnian Museum, Vaasa, Finland
Emerging Artist Program Mira Fine Art

2000 Canson Art Prize Monash University Gallery
Scale 21 George Paton Gallery

1999 Six and Nine 69 Smith St Gallery

1998 Bestiary Newbery Gallery, Glasgow