Justyn Michael Zolli is an expressionist painter, draftsman, printmaker and glass painter.

Justyn studied drawing and stained glass at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence RI, and drawing at the Massachusetts College of Art. Later he graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University, where he studied Mythology and Philosophy.

At the Museum School, Justyn was awarded the 1998 Will and Elena Barnet Award in painting. In 2000 he was awarded the Stephan Bridges Memorial scholarship by the Stained Glass Association of America. He is a journeyman stained glass craftsman, and has worked for several studios both in Boston and New York as a painter and restorer.

In 1999 Justyn departed on a tour of Western Europe, a photo-expedition and study tour throughout Ireland, Scotland, England, France and Italy.

Shortly after returning he moved to New York City and now maintains a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His work is collected privately and he will be having his debut New York exhibition in December 2002 at the Williamsburg Art Nexus (WAX) Gallery.

 

Statement:

"Expressing both abstraction and figuration, my work centers on the exploration of self and the journey of expanding and deepening consciousness. In recent paintings, my visual language has centered on a circular, vortex-mandalic form and a sinuous, serpentine-labyrinth form. These express the themes of time and eternity, passage and destination within the psyche, and the inclination of the male and female forces.

My symbolic figurative paintings are focused on recasting ancient mythic, poetic and heroic themes into personal, expressionist iconography. Each generation of work I call a 'Hero Cycle'. The archetypal hero progresses to conscious maturity by traveling through the labyrinth of his own mind.

In the course of this quest the male hero suffers, but seeks to understand, learn from, and change his suffering. In this process he undergoes a deepening transformation. He begins to convert his violent prime energy into patient, creative work. He also begins to understand the feminine forces that are at work within his own mind, his own body, and the universe.

As the hero changes, he begins to understand this change is embodied by the cycle of seasons and the heavens, the cycle of growth and decay, and life and death. For me, gaining this understanding is the truest purpose of my Art.

November, 2002