BIO

Marek Osedowski is an emerging Canadian visual artist specializing in representational and figurative painting, often weaving metaphor and allegory into symbolist portraiture. Currently working from Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton), Alberta, he graduated with a BFA in Art & Design with distinction in 2020 from the University of Alberta and has since exhibited in Canada and the United States in cities such as San Francisco and Philadelphia. Marek was recently a finalist for the 2023 Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Art Prize in the Emerging Artist category.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Marek primarily works in New Contemporary and Surrealist portraiture. Inspired by his fascination with alchemical illustration and other forms of esoterica, he uses diverse imagery and symbols to hint at cryptic narratives. Drawing upon sources including the Symbolists and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to Art Nouveau, he aspires to explore a balance between old-world mysticism and contemporary matters.
Marek's practice regularly merges and contrasts highly rendered areas with looser or more illustrative ones. Accordingly, although his primary medium and first love remains oil painting, his work also sometimes incorporates aspects of mixed media to explore these comparisons and communicate the layered symbols and narratives depicted therein.