Rafał Olbiński (b. 1943, Kielce), Portrait

Biography
Rafal Olbinski was born and studied in Poland, where he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1981, he immigrated to the United States and soon became an acclaimed painter, illustrator, designer and set designer. And in recent years, he has also become a sculptor.
He received more than 150 awards for his work, including gold and silver medals from the Art Directors Club in New York and gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles.
From 1983 to 1988 he was a lecturer at Temple University in Philadelphia and from 1987 to 2001 he taught at the prestigious School of Visual Arts in New York.
In 1994, he won the international Oscar for the Most Significant Poster of the Year, the Prix Savignac in Paris. That same year, he won Creative Review magazine's award in London for Best British Illustration.
In 1995, his poster won the "New York City Capital of the World" competition selected by a jury chaired by the city's mayor Rudolf Guliani. A year later, he received the Stephan Dohanos Award given by members of the Society of New York Illustrators for the best work of the year.
In 1996, the U.S. News Agency commissioned Rafal Olbinski to design a poster commemorating the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, and in 2000, New York City authorities approached him with a proposal to create a poster for the 30th anniversary of Earth Day.
In 2002, the city of Fondi in Italy awarded him the "Premio Divina Guilia" prize for his outstanding contribution to contemporary art.
Olbinski's works are in the collections of such prestigious institutions as The National Arts Club in New York, the Smithsonian Institute and Library of Congres in Washington, D.C., the Suntory Museum in Osaka, and in many private and corporate collections in the US, Japan and Europe, among others.
In 2002, selected paintings by Rafal Olbinski were included in a screening program at Grand Central Station in New York City's Great Art pantheon as one of the attractions in honor of Earth Day. Other artists whose works were also featured were: Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warchol.
In the same year, his scenoraphy debut for the opera "Don Giovani" in Philadelphia was highly praised by critics of the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.
Rafal Olbinski's work has been devoted to many articles in international magazines such as the New York Times, Der Spiegel, etc.
Five books on Olbinski's art have been published in the United States to date, with the most recent "Olbinski's women" published by Hudson Hills Press in 2007.
The artist was awarded the Gloria Artis gold medal by the President of Poland in 2006 and the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 2012.
In the Teraz Polska competition in 2013, Rafal Olbinski was awarded the distinction of Outstanding Pole.
In recent years, Rafal Olbinski's work has been widely exhibited around the world. In 2019, at the Polish Museum in Rapperswil, Switzerland. In Munich. The presentation of the book Ars Picturae took place in the British Parliament. In 2018 There was an exhibition at the Palace of Art in Krakow presenting one hundred paintings. In recent years, there have also been many solo exhibitions of Rafal Olbinski in the United States: in 2017 in New York at the Kosciuszko Foundation, in 2016 at Gallery 444 in San Francisco, in 2014 at Gallery Studio Vendome in New York, and in 2013 at the Suzzallo Library University of Washington, Seattle. In 2015 he presented his works at the EXPO in Milan, and earlier in 2014 in China at the International Art Exhibition in Harbin and in 2013 at the Museu da Musica in Lisbon. He was the only artist from Poland invited to participate in the 9th Art Biennale at the National Museum in Beijing, in 2022.