V., 2023

Acrylic, soft pastel, pencil, charcoal, spray paint, and oil stick on raw canvas

70 x 140 cm

Lena Zak is a mixed-media artist primarily working in painting who also explores text-based and installation art. Her work focuses on the interplay of opposing elements, illustrating the connection between conflicting forces that influence our world. Themes such as duality, personal experiences, and generational trauma hold significant importance within her artistic practice. This is reflected through a contrasting black-and-white palette, compositions that blend chaos with harmony, and the use of destructive techniques to create new forms. In her creative process, Lena explores acoustic and visual relationships, allowing sound to shape the landscapes of her abstract paintings, resulting in a visuality with calligraphy-like qualities. Her body of work fundamentally mirrors the interconnected yet contradictory forces that shape our world: creation emerging from destruction, harmony from chaos, and the potential for positive growth from adversity. 

For her second term of the GlogauAIR residency, Lena Zak, along with her fellow duo resident Marco Dvorak, will prepare a room installation conveying their (visual, emotional, and audible) experiences and influences gathered during their 6-months stay in Berlin’s Kreuzberg while living in their art studio.