He was born in the 19th century, in 1895, and spent a larger part of his life in the Goral village of Čierna Hora, where the original Slovak element persisted despite its territorial affiliation to Poland. After the Second World War, he relocated to Slovakia to Kežmarok with his family, from which several talented artists emerged. His sons Ján, Luwig, and daughter Mária, after marrying Rudavská, devoted themselves to professional artistic creation, while son Ondrej pursued it as an amateur. In his final years, until his death in 1971, he lived in Bratislava with his children.
He was characterized by a rare wisdom drawn from previous generations, rich life experiences, and a pure, straightforward character. He emerged from a humble farming environment where human self-sufficiency was a given. He was versatile in all kinds of work – besides maintaining a small farm, he worked as a forestry laborer, seasonally as a mower, and also helped as a trained carpenter in building houses for village people. He also crafted wooden furniture, pots, wooden troughs for roads, wagon wheels, sleds, and later in life, he also took up carving wooden figurines for pleasure.
His carving work was clearly defined from the beginning and met all the attributes of tradition that experts use in evaluating folk art today. His works, capturing even the primeval expression of a person with all the turmoil of their soul, exuded above all respect for the depicted figures.
His unconventional expression was displayed in his variations of the Crucifixion. Even in traditional nativity scenes, he placed only Mary, the baby in the manger, and Joseph, with the figures not being directly connected. He also favored themes such as saints, Our Lady of Lourdes, and angels. The motifs are typical of folk sculpture from the past, with a unique artistic treatment and characteristic details of the creator’s handwriting, among the best that has emerged in this area of the visual arts.
Besides the content, Sebastian Korkoš liked to emphasize the artistic qualities of wood. He appreciated the material, attributing a soul to the tree, and his carving work filled him with humility. He fondly recalled, for instance, his work on the Crucifixion, which he made from a four-hundred-year-old oak, unearthed with its roots still intact.
All his figurines, with few exceptions, had similar facial expressions with mouths shaped like a crescent moon. Their creation was facilitated by simple knife manipulation. The final form of the sculptures was also consistent – the surface was smoothly finished using glass and sandpaper. They were fundamentally without polychrome, emphasizing the purity of their carving