BIO

Marek Osedowski is an emerging Canadian visual artist specializing in representational and figurative painting, weaving metaphor and allegory into richly symbolic portraiture. Based in Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton), Alberta, he earned a BFA in Art & Design with distinction from the University of Alberta in 2020 and has since exhibited in Canada and throughout the United States. Osedowski primarily works in oil, incorporating couture-inspired embellishments. His practice blends classical painterly traditions with contemporary sensibilities, drawing from Symbolist and Pre-Raphaelite painting. His work explores themes of psychological exploration, transformation, and metaphorical representation through a synthesis of painting, embroidery, beading, and goldwork techniques.

ARTIST STATEMENT
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Marek Osedowski works primarily in New Contemporary and Surrealist portraiture. Rooted in a fascination with alchemical illustration, witchcraft, and occult visual culture with a deep appreciation for Surrealist works by Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, his paintings employ layered iconographies to suggest cryptic narratives and states of psychological metamorphosis. Figures emerge adorned in botanical and ornamental motifs, inhabiting spaces where mysticism, fashion, and identity converge.

Drawing on the ornate symbolism of the Symbolists and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly the practices of Edgar Maxence, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and John William Waterhouse, as well as Art Nouveau and contemporary haute couture, Marek explores a dialogue between old-world mysticism and present-day self-construction.

His practice often merges highly rendered passages with looser, illustrative mark-making, emphasizing the tension between control and dissolution. While oil painting remains his primary medium and foundation, Marek frequently incorporates mixed media elements, including consistent use of hand embroidery, beadwork, sequins, and goldwork bullion, either stitched directly into the painted surface or applied as embellished interventions. Through this fusion of painting and textile, each work becomes a layered object imbued with symbolic resonance, inviting viewers into a realm where portraiture, mysticism, and embellishment are inseparable.