Built up in thin translucent layers of oil paint, Julia Kowalska’s paintings are like looking through a voyeuristic haze. Utilizing a muted palette which changes with each series, they feel almost nostalgic — a snapshot in time. Each painting is an intimate look at the female experience. They depict dimly lit images of bodies, and faces, often women basking in pleasure. Her figures, liberated from shame, are depicted in their full presence, exploring a sensuality that is both vulnerable and defiant.
Her recent show There is no God who can keep us from Tasting, at Coullise Gallery in Sweden, draws inspiration from Hélène Cixous’s The Book of Promethea which reimagines the myths of Genesis and Prometheus as symbols of hunger and transgression. Kowalska, like Cixous, celebrates the unrestrained appetite of women, rejecting the idea that their desires must be contained or punished. Her paintings celebrate female sexual autonomy and creativity, using fruit as a symbol of desire and the joy of living without fear or embarrassment. She rejects the traditional narratives of female temptation and instead focuses on the innocence and curiosity that drives desire.
Julia Kowalska (b. Poland, 1998), lives and works in Warsaw, Poland. She earned an MFA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 2022 and has had solo exhibitions at Coulisse Gallery, Stockholm (2024), Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angelas (2024), Kravitz Contemporary, London (2023) and Galeria Karowa, Warsaw (2022). She has also had works included in group exhibitions at The Curators Room, Barcelona (2023); Kravitz Contemporary, London (2022) and at the Hotel Warszawa Art Fair with Śmierć Człowieka (2022).
