Maria Kozak -- A Brief Encounter with the Infinite

Maria Kozak
A Brief Encounter with the Infinite, 2025
Oil on jute
15 x 12 in.

Warsaw and New York-based artist Maria Kozak’s (b. 1981, Krakow, PL) psychological portraits and landscapes allude to an undercurrent of energy coursing through human existence. A descendant of dowsers, alchemists and Polish mystics, her fluid, moody paintings are driven by existential inquiries into the nature of reality and the construction of society. Kozak's paintings are characterized by dissolving forms, layered narratives and ambiguity that carry forth traditions from German Expressionism, Surrealism, Psychedelia and the Transavantgarde.

Prone to pareidolia, Kozak begins each painting with intuitive digital sketches, pushing and pulling color fields until forms emerge and building compositions through a process of excavation, remixing and digital collage. Referencing these studies as primary source material, the artist largely paints with a palette knife on linen and jute, using their natural textures to add depth and tactility while varying densities of glazing and impasto serve the psychological complexity of her figures.

Maria Kozak lives and works between New York City, Upstate New York and Warsaw, Poland. Her family emigrated to the United States from Poland in 1983 at the height of martial law and she grew up navigating the two cultures. Kozak holds an MFA 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 has shown most recently at Boketto (Monaco), LETO Gallery (Warsaw), Yudian (Hangzhou) with Dreamsong at NADA Villa Warsaw and at The Detroit Public Library. Kozak was awarded a NYFA/NYSCA Grant and a Schusterman Foundation Fellowship for her work in emerging technology. Kozak has been featured in Surface Magazine, Cool Hunting, Artsy, FAD Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest and Paper magazine.