Ryszard Semko is a painter and printmaker based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, who was born in Poland and came to New York City as a political refugee, an upheaval that shaped a body of work centered on self-portraiture as a way of processing isolation and memory. He studied painting at the University of Fine Arts in Poznan under Prof. Jan Switka, with additional lithography training under Prof. Jozef Drazkiewicz. After years of self-portrait work, he shifted in 2012 to monotype printmaking, producing intuitive landscape series, before returning to self-portraiture in 2023 to revisit that earlier material. His work has been shown at venues including Adelante Gallery and BAF Art in New York and Kitano Alley Gallery in Kobe, Japan, has received a painting award from the Hillwood Art Museum, and is held in the collection of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut.

My journey in painting has been a profound exploration of the depths of my inner self, shaped by personal hardship and the life-changing experience of relocating to New York City from Poland as a political refugee. This new reality brought isolation and nostalgia, and through my art I confronted and unraveled these emotions. My obsession with painting self-portraits was a dialogue with the inner self—a reaction to how I felt—that created every new piece. In 2010, I couldn't work on portraits anymore; I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. In 2012, I began exploring the monotype printing medium—creating unique, landscapes. As I mastered this technique, I realized the endless possibilities that flowed from my intuitive self-expression. In 2023, I painted a new series of self-portraits, aiming to revisit and explore the shadows of my past. To my revelation, I discovered that some things remain unaltered, persistently etched into my existence—a constant reminder of the inescapable facets of my journey.