Justyna Koziczak, Dark waters, 2023

oil on canvas, 80 cm x 70 cm

Justyna Koziczak was born in 1991 in Wroclaw and graduated from the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Arts, majoring in Restoration and Reconstruction of Ceramics and Glass. Her paintings, are compositions whose stylistics may bring to mind dreams and subconsciousness. Made in the surrealist trend, the paintings are usually boundless landscapes with temples, gates or peaks towering over the human figure. Usually, the theme of these works is the confrontation of man with strange events, monsters or peculiar creatures that embody fears and difficulties. These phenomena are faced by modern man. The artist's painting style changed in the early 2020s, when, along with experiments on light and color, the author stopped focusing on narrative and figurativeness, and began creating works characterized by expressive brushstrokes. The paintings became almost abstract, full of details created with decisive, visible brushstrokes, like scenes from the borderline of java and dream. In these works, light situated in the central part of the painting now plays a big role, bringing out from the darkness the shapes of tangled animals and human figures, reminiscent of Baroque decorations.
Justyna Koziczak creates mainly in two techniques: oil on canvas and her author's technique of burning through metal and painting on burnt marks. In this technique, the author uses elements such as doors from washing machines and refrigerators, electrical boxes, which she finds abandoned in "wild" garbage dumps or junkyards, giving abandoned objects a new role in the creative process. Her works have participated in exhibitions in London, Milan, Venice and at the Dubai World Art Fair. Justyna's paintings are on the covers of more than a dozen albums by rock and metal bands mainly from the US.