Career
Along with Nikifor, he was one of best known Polish primitivists. His occupation was a miner, working at the Giesche"s coal mine in Katowice as a machinist in the power plant. He maintained contact with the Julian Ochorowicz Parapsychological Society of Lvov.
He believed that he had a spiritual link with his master who telepathically inspired his art
Hohmann persuaded Ociepka to start painting circa 1927. He gave up his attempts in 1930 after receiving criticism from Tadeusz Dobrowolski, a Polish professor of art history and museum curator.
He probably returned to painting either before or during World World War World War II The Warsaw exhibition launched Ociepka"s great world-class artistic career. He saw his painting as God"s mission, and so tried to portray absolutist themes, including the struggle between Good and Evil.
During the early 1950s, in an attempt at political correctness, they were interpreted as Paleozoic Era landscapes.
They are characterized by wealth of imagination and bright, rich colors. In 1946 Ociepka partnered with Otto Klimczok to found an art group. In 1947 the group was reorganized as an Art Circle associated with the Cultural Center "KWK Wieczorek", which during the 1950s provided a base for a talented group of amateur artists.
The group was known as "Janowska Group" after its birthplace, or more formally, as the Circle of Non-professional Painters.
Teofil Ociepka was one of the main characters portrayed in the 2002 movie Angelus.