Julia Leś is painter, illustrator, graphic designer and writer. She lives and works in Krakow, Poland. In 2023 she graduated from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, painting faculty. She is the winner of the two Grand Prix in painting during FAM (Malopolska Festival of Arts) between 2015-2018. She was the co-organizer of a polish - american art project called Solidarity Project (organized in 2021 as a response to COVID pandemic, gathering artists from Poland and United States). From 2021 she works mostly in digital. In 2022 she started her diploma grand project in 3D.
In her early work she tried to dispute with problematic situations and events that used to happen at the Academy. Her controversial painting titled Carnival in 200th studio caused a visible tension between her and her professors and even excluded her from being nominated to honorable mention. In spite of that she was spotted by auction house and showed her works on-line.
In 2020 she found the great inspiration - nature.
She gains from the structures of nature and tries to find a unique shape of life-giving composition. She takes the creeper as a perfect symbol, composing in different shapes - it may be the symbol of life or a sign of death. She wants the viewers to get confused is the shape still represents the world of plants or it becomes something different like a galaxy or flesh. Furthermore she tries to find pure abstraction in the structures of nature - rocks.
From 2021 she experiments with animation, digital painting and digital illustration. From 2023 she is working on a book. First part was already printed and is available for sale (check the BOOK section).
Selected exhibitions:
Diploma exhibition - 14th of November 2023 to 1st of December 2023
In between landscapes (with american artist Joanna Pottle) - December 2021, Kraków
Short talk with a model (solo) - February 2020, Kraków
MDK Kraków student's exhibition part II (group) - February 2017, Kraków
Views of Gdańsk, On bout exhibition (group) - August 2016, Gdańsk
MDK Kraków student's exhibition (group) - January 2015, Kraków
Still life (solo) - June 2015, Wola Zachariaszowska
Lancut plein-air (group) - August 2015, Łańcut
