Justyna Kisielewicz @ Friends of Leon

September 10, 2015

If you happen to be in Sydney in September 17th you’ll be in for a treat! You’ll get to view Justyna Kisielewicz‘s recent works amidst numerous floating balloons while enjoying an abundant amount of confectionery and candy coloured cocktails, all at Friends of Leon Gallery. Justyna is a rebellious Polish artist who has changed the Eastern European art scene with her evocative works. Banned from creating colourful artworks during her strict training at Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, she started painting colourful self-portraits the moment she graduated from the academy in retaliation against her forced years of monochromatic painting.

Raised during the communist era in Poland, Justyna was surrounded by homogeneous culture and grey imageries. In her formative years, Western influences brought significant changes to her city; However, the byproducts of those changes were only accessible to the rich. “My dreams were a mirage of fantasy and colour but without the means to buy any of these new things” explains the artist, “I began drawing characters from motion pictures, especially Disney.” Set in surreal landscapes, Justyna’s humorously satirical oil paintings are filled with pop culture references, cotton clouds, donuts, balloons, and – of course – Disney characters. Just like Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol, she successfully elevates commonplace objects into the realm of art.