Photo credit: @adres_pryvatny

Maja Krysiak was born in 1980 in Częstochowa (PL). In 2005, she graduated with honors from the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Krakow. In 2006-2014, Krysiak worked as a didactic assistant at the Faculty of Interior Design in the 1st Drawing and Painting Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. In 2013, Krysiak opened her doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. From June to September 2019, she collaborated and took an internship on the painting project ”Destroyed Woman” by artist Paulina Ołowska for Simon Lee Gallery in London. Krysiak has participated in several individual and group exhibitions, and has won competitions such as the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage scholarship program ”Culture in Web” (2020) and the Leon Wyczółkowski Painting Competition in Bydgoszcz.  In 2020 Krysiak became a member of the board of Artist’s House Kadenowka Foundation founded by Paulina Ołowska. Krysiak also takes part in many international artistic workshops. She lives and works in Krakow.

Krysiak is a visual artist, dealing with painting, drawing, ceramics, creating objects and installations. Krysiak’s themes oscillate around the form of a man and his distorted personality going against the mass contemporary culture. The idea began from her interest in 20 century circus, which engage thousands of people and animals who seem different from the norm society. The audience get and understanding and sense of feeling towards the stories of these people creating a magnificent show. Culture makes a bow towards self indulgence and Krysiak is trying to find this thin line between the real and the illusion.

Gaps in my biography. The artist’s reproductive system. The only working system I have.

The reproductive system that bore me into this world. Through my reproductive system  I bore my children into this world. The reproductive system caused gaps in my biography. And these gaps are sooo huge!

And now I’m filing in those gaps with the observed peaces of reality, I quickly note down the emotions so as not to forget  them, to be able to transform them and excrete them from myself. Before they disappear into the hectic world again. Let them live forever! There hide torments in seemingly healthy relationships.” – Maja Krysiak

Read more about Krysiak’s latest solo exhibition in our gallery Mother Queens

Maja Krysiak. Horses. 140 cm x 110 cm. Oil on canvas. 2017.
Maja Krysiak. Sticky Mind. 90 cm x 80 cm. Oil on canvas. 2019.
Maja Krysiak, Space Warrior (warrior queen), 2021, oil on canvas, 140 cm x 110 cm
Maja Krysiak, Too tight collar I, 2021, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Maja Krysiak, Too tight collar II, 2021, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Maja Krysiak, Too tight collar III, 2022, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Maja Krysiak. Women tree. 180 cm x 140 cm. Oil on canvas. 2017.
Maja Krysiak, Not Guilty, 2021, oil on canvas 160 x 160 cm
Maja Krysiak, A lady with an Ermine, 2021,60 cm x 40 cm, oil on canvas
Maja Krysiak, Fairytale, 2021, oil on canvas, 180 cm x 140 cm
Maja Krysiak, Treachery with a stiletto, 2021, oil on canvas, 60 cm x 40 cm
Maja Krysiak, Dog Lover, 2022, oil on canvas, 160 x 110 cm