Artist, musician and teacher, Stan Korytnyj is a man of many accomplishments.
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The Bowral resident will exhibit his collection at the latest Gang of Five exhibition at Bowral Art Gallery on February 10.
The Adelaide raised artist finds his inspiration by what is happening around him. His semi-abstract artwork is inspired by current affairs, conversation and the like.
"This time last year there was all this kerfuffle about where the virus started which is what I have painted," he said.
"You talk about stuff around you and that's what I paint. If I hear something on the radio or the news."
Describing his artwork, Stan drew inspiration from what was going on at the time.
"The way my mind works, as people started to get sick and they were getting pushed on trolleys out of the hospital, health care workers wear blue and China was in the media," he said.
"So I just do scribbles and that's how the painting comes forth.
"I usually do five or six paintings at a time.
"Inspiration is there all the time. It's just stuff that happens around me I paint."
Stan also went through a period of hyper-realistic paintings.
"I went through a period in the 80s where I went into super realistic paintings because my two sons said anybody could do what I was doing," he said
"In the 90s I painted a lot of rugby-related series because we won the rugby in the 90s and I loved the colours on the field. I thought it was interesting.
"When I first came to Bowral in 1994 there were bushfires in NSW and that was terrible so I did a series of paintings on that - about 12 or so.
"Steve Prestwich, the drummer from Cold Chisel bought those and that gave us a start in Bowral. I'm very grateful to him."
While Stan is an accomplished artist and musician who has played with the likes of Jimmy Barnes, it wasn't always his career path.
"I went to art school and played music at the same time, I finished my degree where I did a masters degree in art," he said.
"I then taught for two years because I had a teaching degree and I thought - 'there's more to life than just teaching in the country.'
"In those days when you went into teaching the government paid for tuition and you were contracted for three years but I taught for two and a half years and had to pay the money back to the government.
"I moved back in with my parents and locked myself in the bedroom and practised the guitar. I wanted to be a guitar player.
"My parents were a bit worried for me, turning to guitar, but I ended up doing well. I bought a new car, I was touring the country and playing and we had hit records - it was terrific.
"I always painted. When I wasn't touring I was at home writing music or painting."
Stan went on to marry Jan and have two boys who followed in their father's footsteps to become musicians.
"I had a friend of mine that lived here in Bowral - Jimmy Barnes," he said.
"He said 'come over to Bowral and we will kick start your boys' music careers. I thought oh here we go - this could be a rollercoaster ride.
"I thought we'd take the risk, so we moved in with Jim and Jane Barnes for six months before they went to Paris.
"It was good, my eldest son Anton was 17 and ended up playing in the Jimmy Barnes band as a keyboard player and singer. Alex was only 8 it was good for him too.
"Jim went off to France and we were here with a rusty car, no jobs and we thought do we go back to Adelaide with tails between our legs or do we stay and give it a go.
"So we gave it a go and we did really well for ourselves."
Both Stan and Jan are teachers and have taught in the Southern Highlands.
"I taught at Frensham for 16 years and at Oxley College for 23 years teaching music one on one," he said.
"Two and half years ago I retired."
Stan said that while painting has always been a part of his life, his family's move to Bowral meant he started to paint more and more and eventually Gang of Five was born.
"I'd teach during the day and paint at night," he said.
"It all came down to Janek's Coffee Bar in Bowral. I used to hang out there, I met a few guys and there were all telling me to do something with my artwork.
"So we ended up forming a group called 'Gang of Five' and that was 2015 but it took about 12 months for us to decide to do it.
"It's been good fun.
"I think it's the fourth time we will be exhibiting at BDAS."
Stan will have several of his prints on exhibition at the Gang of Five Chapter 21 exhibition.
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