Maria Kozak is a painter and new media artist living and working between New York and Warsaw. Her family emigrated from Poland in 1983 at the height of martial law and she grew up navigating the two cultures. Her drawings and paintings are intuitive expressions of her inner world based loosely on society, nature and the sublime. They are about the absurdity of being a human, the dark comedy and the parts of the unconscious mind that we normally try to hide or ignore. There is always a duality present— whether darkness/light, control/surrender, stillness/movement, the real/artificial. Her virtual work is about the tension between repetition and change as we renegotiate what it means to be human in the digital age; with the boundaries between ourselves and others constantly being redrawn. She has a light approach to social commentary, always seeking to provide a sense of levity and connection.

Kozak’s work is found in collections nationally and abroad. She has recently exhibited at Sotheby’s, The Detroit Public Library, and The SPRING/BREAK Art Show. Her work has been featured on Artsy, Cool Hunting, and in the WSJ. Kozak was recently awarded an NYFA/NYSCA grant and a Schusterman Foundation Fellowship for her work in emerging technology. She is an alumni of NEW INC, the New Museum incubator for art and technology.