The Freed Gallery in Lincoln City, Oregon, will host the first-ever U.S. exhibition of modern art by Polish master painter Jozef Halas.
Halas started making noise in the modern art scene more than 60 years ago with his independent approach and fresh perspective. He earned his Masters of Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts (Wroclaw, Poland) in 1954, where he would later become a professor. Since 1955 he has exhibited extensively through Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East – from England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain to Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and (the former) Czechoslovakia as well as his home country of Poland. The recipient of numerous awards, Halas was most recently recognized with the Award of the Minister of Culture for Life Achievement in the Arts (Poland).
Jozef Halas was born in 1927 into a turbulent period in Polish history. Naturally gifted, he was a rising star in the Polish modern art scene. Tenaciously independent, he forged his own path, eschewing identification with any school of painting. Instead, Halas has spent his life pursuing what can only be called honesty – a direct experience of the world.