Frederick Bidigare, the American-born contemporary artist and graduate from the University of Detroit, School of Architecture, is best known for his vivid watercolors, whose numerous awards have drawn international attention. Bidigare artworks are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Warsaw Uprising in Poland.
AMERICAN IN POLAND
Bidigare dedicated his early career to architecture, running his own studio while teaching architectural design at the University of Detroit, School of Architecture. The latter brought him to Poland in 1987 as an exchange professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology. The radical political, economic, and strongly emotional social transformations at that time ignited his continuing attachment to the Polish people and culture.
ABSTRACTION AND UNIQUENESS OF HUMAN GESTURE
What makes Bidigare artworks unique and exceptional, is their enduring vitality, yet radiating deeply human understanding of our fragility and complexity. His paintings are often impregnated with ease and humor, powerfully emotional and comprehensive. His art touches our soul: “The paintings are, in my opinion, a reflection of something within us, something non-rational, but real”, describes his work Bidigare.
Simultaneously, the strong and soft harmony of colors, with subtle, refined nuances and purpose dissonances or conflicts, sates his palette. The forms and shapes are applied in a natural gesture of perfectly falling light. Bidigare’s technique and method of working with watercolor implies covering with numerous layers of paint washed out and applied again using mostly a wide brush. Special attention is given to the elaborate background, whose carefully adjusted intensity and texture define a balance between depth and convexity of forms in a two-dimensional representation.
AWARDS
2000 Silver Medal, California Watercolor Association
2001 Merit Award, Louisiana Watercolor Society
2001 Bowles Portrait Award, Charlotte County Art Guild Punta Gorda, Florida
2001 Merit Award, North East Watercolor Society
2001 First Place Oils, Hilton Head Art League Hilton Head, South Carolina
2002 Lucy Nestor Award, Michigan Watercolor Society
2002 Merit Award, Rhode Island Watercolor Society
2002 Creativity Award, Kentucky Watercolor Society
2002 Award of Excellence, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society
2003 Anniversary Award, Michigan Watercolor Society
2003 Merit Award, Red River Watercolor Society
2003 Past Presidents Award, Transparent Watercolor Society of America
2003 Daler-Rowney Award, National Watercolor Society
2004 Mary Jane Bigler Award, Michigan Watercolor Society
2004 Merit Award, Arizona Aqueous XIX
2004 Burgess Award, Rocky Mountain National Exhibition Golden, Colorado
2004 Achievement Award, Missouri Watercolor Society
2004 St. Cuthbert’s Mill Award, Watercolor West
2004 Merit Award Rocky Mountain National
2005 Millard Sheets Memorial Medal, American Watercolor Association
2005 Merit Award, Transparent Watercolor Society of America
2005 Merit Award, Louisiana Watercolor Society
2005 Merit Award, Rhode Island Watercolor Society
2005 Best Portrait Award, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society
2006 Finalist, Experimental Category Artist Magazine 23rd Art Competition
2006 Marsland Award, Rhode Island Watercolor Society
2007 Border Title Award, Texas Watercolor Society
2011 NWS Reciprocal Award, Watercolor West
2012 Excellence Award I, North East Watercolor Society
2012 Signature Members Award, Watercolor West
2012 Traveling Exhibition, National Watercolor Society
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Published with the permission of KARINA CASTELLA-BIESIEDNA, President and Founder of Artist Vision Herit Foundation
karina@artvhf.com