I make intuitive process driven acrylic paintings on canvas where the surface evolves out of chance encounters between marks and colour, the paintings are often heavily layered and reveal the narrative of multiplicity of layers and planes. I build up my paintings in stages, creating a sense of depth and complexity. I play with contrasting elements, exploring the tension between structure and chaos. My art reflects a sense of change and evolution, as things are destroyed and rebuilt and ultimately, finding harmony and equilibrium, even in the midst of opposites and contradictions.
My work involves multiple layers over time, which often result in accidental textured surfaces, erasures, repainting, and concealing. I work with colours, shapes and lines, often employing haphazard grids, an overload of forms, and handmade stencils. My use of a syntax of grids and geometry is inspired by a range of disparate aesthetics, including modernist abstraction, architecture, constructivism and post-painterly tradition.
The grid is applied as a palimpsest in a process in search of a new order or post-traumatic rebalance. Manipulation of forms and improvisation are key components of my artistic process, which is driven by the pursuit for internal balance within the composition.
BIO
Beata Kozlowska (born in Poland) currently lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand, (since 2016). She received her MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art and Design (UAL) London and her BA (Single Hons.) in Fine Art Drawing, Camberwell College of Art at University of the Arts (UAL) London, UK, where she lived and worked for 12 years. Before her time in London, she studied Polish Literature and Linguistics, earning a Master’s Degree from the University of Warsaw.
Kozlowska has exhibited extensively in London, the UK, and internationally in countries such as Lithuania and Spain. Her participation in various international art residencies and projects includes ‘Working Title’ at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth, (UK), JOYA in Los Velez, Spain, KCCC Creative Center in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and ‘Arteles Creative Centre’ in Finland.
Since 2016, Beata Kozlowska has been residing and working in Wellington, taking a break for her young family. During this time, she participated in a two-person show at Thistle Hall Gallery, an in-situ project at Toi Poneke (2016), in the group show ‘Do Not Swallow’ at Safehouse1&2 in London, UK and most recently a solo show at TwentySix Gallery in Wellington. Her works can be found in private collections in the UK, New Zealand, and Spain.
Artistic achievement/awards
2015 Nominated for SAFTA in visual arts category as South London Women Artists group.
2014 Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers, Conway Hall, London, SLWA collaborative Public art residency, supported by Arts Council.
2011 (August) Working title Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth (selected artist in residence).
2011 (July) KCCC, Artist in residence, Klaipeda, Lithuania.
2010 (November) Clifford Chance Sculpture Commission (Shortlisted artist), Canary Wharf, London.
2009 (November-December) ‘Cortijada Los Gazques’, JOYA, Artist in residence, Los Velez, Spain.
2009 (May) UH Galleries Prize ‘Eastern Approaches’ for contemporary sculpture.
2003 (November) Firebirds Oerlinghausen (near Bielefeld) Germany; international multidisciplinary artistic project (painting, Land Art, Gestalt, video, music)in collaboration with artists from Italy, Poland and Germany.
Solo exhibition
2024 Mental Geography, Beata Kozlowska, TwentySix Gallery, Wellington, NZ.
2023 Poetics of Geometry solo exhibition Beata Kozlowska, Thistle Hall Gallery, Wellington, NZ.
Selected group exhibition
2024
Layers, curated by Unprimed Collective, Downstairs at the Department Store, Brixton, London, UK.
2023
DO NOT SWALLOW, Safehouse 1&2, Group exhibition, London, UK.
2016
FT2 curated by CHROM-ART, ACTIU Showroom, London, UK
Tribe 16, International Arts Festival, 47/49 Tanner Street, London, co-curating Beata Kozlowska and Kris Cieslak
Weaving Light and Space, two persons show, Thistle Hall Gallery, Wellington, NZ
Theatre of Colour and Movement, Toi Poneke Art Centre, project space, collaboration between Beata Kozlowska and David Moraton, Wellington, New Zealand
NZ ART SHOW, TSB BANK Arena, Wellington, New Zealand
Silence, Awareness, Existence. Arteles, Art residency programme, Finland (selected).
Blueprints, Roman Susan Gallery and Chicago Industrial Arts and Design Centre, group show exploring experimental drawing, Chicago, USA.
2015
Tribe15, Alternative Art Festival, ‘Ugly Duck’ Tanner Street 47/49, co-curated with Chrom-Art.
ID , Display Gallery, London.
Formetrinity, Water and Oil Gallery, curated by Diana Malcolm, London
Death and Transition, Gabriel Fine Arts Gallery, curated by Yolanta Gawlik and Melissa Budasz.
Ariande saw 2- homage to Blake, experimental art performance, Crypt of St. John’s Church, Waterloo, London.
2014
Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers, Conway Hall, SLWA group art residency and series of talks and workshops, supported by The Arts Council, London.
The Why Front, South London Women Artists collaborative Project, The Albany, London.
Open House, Open studio, Studio Voltaire, London.
Espacio Gallery Colourswatch, curated by Reema Dreaming, Pat Keaey and Chrissy Thirlaway. London.
Postcards Anon, West London Action for Children, London.
Q-art – Art crit – Creative conversations, Griffin Gallery, London.
2013
Open Studio, Studio Voltaire, London.
Piecework, Espacio Gallery, curated by Jackie Brown, Pia Randall- Goddard, London.
I am inside, Ring the Bell, curated by Leonie Cronin and Laura Moreton-Griffiths, 47/49 tanner Street, London.
Stephen Lawrence Centre, curated by Melissa Budasz, London.
2012
Snap, Bankside Gallery, SLWA group show, London.
Dreams are private myths-Myths are public dreams, curated by Sophie Leach, Minna Georgieva, Dulwich Library, London.
2011
Q-Art Annual Show, Deptford Gallery, London.
Aspex Gallery, project ‘Working Title’ Portsmouth.
Pilgrimage Kulturopolis KCCC artist residency and exhibition, Klaipeda, Lithuania.
Mayfest Art Fesitval, Notting Hill, London.
Women and books, curated by Sarah Sparkes, Dulwich Library, London.
2010
Arteria, St George the Martyr Borough High Street, London.
MA Degree Show, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London.
‘Going Postal ‘, ICA Gallery, London.
The Woodmill Gallery, ‘Salon’, Collaborative project, London.
Bankside Gallery, curated by Kelly Chorpening, London.
Triangle Space Gallery, MA Interim Show, Chelsea College of Art &Design, London.
South London Gallery, ‘Art bin’ curated by Michael Landy, London.
Oblong Gallery, ‘Dotted by intervention’ curated by TFN, London
Celebrating Women Artists, Dulwich Library collaborative SLWA group show, London.
Auto-Italia, postgraduate collaborative project between artists from Chelsea College of Art and Design and Wimbledon College of Art, London.
2009
The Vyner Street Gallery, ‘Archeology of Subject/object’, curated by Beata Kozlowska, collaborative group show, London.
Frieze Art Projects, ‘Open Call-Impossible Exchange’ curated by Brina Thurston, London.
‘District as One’, collaborative show, Jotta Contemporary, The Legion, London.
Victoria Baths, ‘Ponglish for Beginners’, curated by Steven Maxwell Campbell, Manchester.
Islington Contemporary Art & Design Fair, London.
Rochelle School (Club Row), ‘Invisible means of support’, Postgraduate Degree Show, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London.
‘Eastern Approaches 2009’, UH Galleries, Open Sculpture Exhibition at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.
SLWA, ‘Celebrating South London Women Artists’, Dulwich Library, London.
Gallery 77, ‘Collision’, co-curated with Nandita Chaudhuri, London.
RED GATE Gallery, ‘Micro-Macro Vision’, London.
2008
Interim Show, Postgraduate group show, ‘Sold’ Triangle Space,Chelsea College of Arts and Design, London
Surface Gallery, ‘The Annual Postcard Show’, Nottingham.
Nolia’s Gallery, ‘Fragments’- four artists collaborative exhibition, Great Suffolk Street, London (curation of the show).
Café Gallery, Annual exhibition, London.
South London Women Artists, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.
Degree Show, Camberwell College of Arts, London.
‘Top Drawer’ group exhibition curated by Catherine Devriese, Camberwell College of Arts, London.
2007
‘Borrowed space’ site specific art residency and exhibition in collaboration with IDEA SPACE, London.
‘Small object’, ‘The Foundry’, London.
2003
“Firebirds”, Group exhibition young artists from Italy, Poland and Germany (including land art, painting, video, music) Oerlinghausen, Bielefeld, Germany.
Curatorial projects
2015
Tribe15, Alternative Art Festival, ‘Ugly Duck’ Tanner Street 47/49, co-curated with Chrom-Art.
Ariande saw 2- homage to Blake, experimental art performance, Crypt of St. John’s Church, Waterloo, London.
2009
The Vyner Street Gallery, ‘Archeology of Subject/object’, curated by Beata Kozlowska, London.
Gallery 77, ‘Collision’, co-curated with Nandita Chaudhuri, London.
RED GATE Gallery, ‘Micro-Macro Vision’, London.
2008
Nolia’s Gallery, ‘Fragments’- four artists collaborative exhibition, Great Suffolk Street, London.
Solo exhibitions
Pilgrimage Kulturopolis KCCC, Klaipeda, Lithuania.
Articles/ publications
Theatre of Light and Shadows– Catalogue published by Arteles Creative Centre, Finland, 2016.
Geography of Mind interview with Beata Kozlowska, by Javier Melian, Co-Founder of Chrom-Art, London, 2016.
Poetry Performance and the Death Cafe, Death and Trandition, Special Event, Discussion on Contemporary Female Art, Edition 3, SLWA, March 2015.
I Am inside the Ring – Book published in conjunction with the SLWA Show, 2013.
The Collaborator, A-n art Magazine Blog, written by Nicola Dale, August 2011.
Klaipeda Old Town is occupied by Three art Installations, ‘Menokiemas’ Klaipeda Cultural Communication Centre, August 2011.
Beata Kozlowska, My personal journey- In search for a NEW syntax, ‘Dulwich On View’ August 23, 2011.
Teresa Bazarnik, Multicultural dynamism, ‘Nowy Czas’ September 21, 2010.
Emily Rose Faludy, South London Women Artists display their talents at Dulwich library and Artdog. ‘Dulwich OnView’ March 20, 2009.
<http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2009/03/20/slwa>
Ingrid Beazley, Micro-Macro vision at the Red Gate Gallery, ‘Dulwich On View’ March 13, 2009.
Website links
<http://www.arteles.org/artists_projects.html>
<http://www.chrom-art.org/2016/01/10/geography-of-mind-beata-kozlowska-interview/>
<http://www.studiovoltaire.co.uk>
<https://issuu.com/melissabudasz/docs/artverve_edition_3_mag>
<https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/the-collaborator/date/2011/08>
<http://www.kulturpolis.lt/en/main.php/id/258/lang/2/nID/112>
<http://www.menokiemas.lt/en/right/residents/beata-kozlowska-1/ >
<http://www.espaciogallery.com/future-exhibitions.html >
<http://www.aspex.org.uk/events/working-title/ >
<http://www.strong-island.co.uk/2011/08/16/amy-twigger-holroyd-at-aspex/ >
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzLiR7cia7w >
<http://www.aspex.org.uk/art/gallery_1/working_title>
<http://workingtitleexhibition.wordpress.com/category/artists/ >
<http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2011/08/23/my-personal-journey-in-search-for-a-new-syntax/ >
<www.beataZkozlowska.blogspot.com >
<http://www.losgazquez.com/blog/?page_id=1643 >
<http://www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk/beata-kozlowska/ >
<http://www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk/slwa-events-exhibitions/piecework-at-espacio-gallery.html>
<http://community.q-art.org.uk/portfolio/beata-kozlowska-griffin-gallery-crit-29-march-2014/ >
<http://www.newexhibitions.com/exhibitions/id=700®ion=10&exhibition_id=16194>
<http://www.nowyczas.co.uk/wydania/150/nowyczas.pdf >
<Eastern Approaches, UH, 2009 >
Work in Private Collections