Paul Karnowski paints in acrylics on canvas with both subtle and obvious messages delivered in the series we currently have in the gallery. Saints are his subject, and share some things in common. Unlike medieval and Renaissance images, none of these paintings feature a human image of the saint. However, they all use the everyday imagery and symbols to highlight something about the saint's life or his or her significance. The palette of colors is borrowed from medieval stained glass windows.

Paul Karnowski has provided me with the meaning of each painting in his own words.



Francesco d’Assisi, dove e andato? (Francis of Assisi, where has he gone?)
36”X44”
$950.00
A well-known saint, Francis lived in the 1200's and renounced his father's wealth and status--founding an order of friars who took vows of complete poverty. Francis is known as a patron saint of peace and a great lover of nature.
The birds come to an empty feeder, while birds of a different feather (the fighter planes) fly by in the background. The sun sets over the town of Assisi, which sits at the bottom of the painting.



1 800 FOR GEORGE
36”X44”
$950.00
The legend of St. George pitted him against a dragon. It seems that a village had been held hostage by the creature and George was called in to help solve the problem. In this version of the tale, the enemy (the dragon) is us. Formed from a series of televisions, the dragon assumes a life of its own, as it breaks out of the constraints of the television sets. The television sets are powered by the village itself: a series of windowless and anonymous buildings that feed the beast. On the right side a fire extinguisher drops from the sky, hanging from a telephone cord. Below the painting hangs an ineffectual lance, a relic from days gone by.



Dear Christopher
36” X 44”
$950.00
Legend has it that Christopher was instructed by a hermit to build a hut by the banks of a river and carry to and fro all who wished to cross. One night a little boy asked him to take him across. As he made his way across the river, the child seemed heavier and heavier. He barely made it to the other side. The Christ child (whom he had carried) told him that he had carried the whole weight of the world upon his shoulders.
Hence, Saint Christopher was made the patron saint of travelers, helping all who make journeys. In the painting, Christopher is invoked to"ORA PRO NOBIS" (which is Latin for "Pray for us"). The us he is praying for are all the little piggies on wheels hurrying about our business as we journey through life. We ignore the giant stoplight with its purple caution light. The purple footprints sprinkled with nails, remind us of Christopher's more difficult path.



Click-Clack-Cloe
36” X 36”
$650.00
In this send-up of a technological tick-tack-toe game, cut and paste is the order of the day. The cans of paint look as if they have been cut from paper and taped to the surface of the painting. The dotted lines that form the game's grid suggest cutting on the dotted line. The cans themselves are the "fill" icons used in many computer drawing programs. The x's and o's of this painting are the complementary colors: green vs. red, blue vs. orange, yellow vs. purple. The grayish background was actually made from a mixture of all six of the primary and secondary colors.