Maria Kozak is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in upstate New York and Warsaw, Poland. Her drawings and paintings are are intuited, psychological landscapes whose figures exist beyond the conventional boundaries of time and space. They depict various relationships with the self, others and the sublime. Driven by both existential inquiries into the nature of reality, and the construction of society, Kozak's work embraces the full spectrum of human experience—from the sacred to the profane. It offers a light-hearted approach to social commentary by balancing whimsy and melancholy. Descended from a long line of dowsers, alchemists and Polish mystics, she believes in an undercurrent of energy creating and connecting all things. These subtle frequencies are always present in an effort to make the unseen, seen. Her work is characterized by dissolving forms, layered narratives and ambiguity. It continues traditions of German Expressionism, Surrealism, psychedelia and the transavantgarde.
Her work is found in collections nationally and abroad and has been mentioned in Artsy, the Wall Street Journal, Cool Hunting and Paper magazine. She has shown most recently at LETO Gallery in Warsaw, Dreamsong in Minneapolis and The Detroit Public Library. She was awarded a NYFA /NYSCA Grant and a Schusterman Foundation Fellowship for her work in emerging technology. She has a Master’s degree in painting from the New York Academy of Art and is an alumni of NEW INC, the New Museum’s incubator for art + technology. She is also currently the Editor-at-large of Przekrój, Poland’s oldest culture magazine.
For more information please email maria@mariakozak.com
