Maria (Majka) Korycka was born in Warsaw, Poland, and moved with her family to south Africa in 1990, a shift that quietly reshaped her sense of home and laid the emotional groundwork for her painting journey. Though originally trained in technical field, Maria always turned to art as a way of understanding her inner world. In 1993 she began her formal Fine Arts studies, a period that strengthened her confidence, expanded her creativity and set her on the path to becoming the accomplished painter she is today.
Maria’s artistic process is deeply intuitive. She begins by photographing subjects connected to her personal narrative before narrowing them down to a few evocative images. From there, she creates charcoal sketches to “get into the feeling,’’ followed by washes of a dominant colour to break the blankness of the canvas. Once the white disappears, ideas surface and the work unfolds instinctively, layer by layer, mark by mark. She works across acrylics, oils, pastels, charcoal and mixed media, often gravitating toward landscapes, still life, and depictions of everyday people, particularly women. Through these subjects, she expresses a profound love for nature and the human spirit.
Her creative philosophy is shaped in part by a favourite poem by Jill Lawton, a meditation on colour, wisdom and quiet observation. Maria believes that a painting that needs no elaborate explanation is a successful one, art, for her, speaks for itself, leaving room for the viewer to complete the story.
Maria is also an active member of the USCAA, KZNSA and NCA, with her work exhibited widely across south Africa. Her paintings have also travelled far beyond her adopted home, finding collectors in Poland, Italy, Australia, Hong Kong, and cities across south Africa, including Cape Town and Durban.
At The Gallery, Maria has participated in numerous exhibitions, contributing her thoughtful, layered works to the evolving visual conversations of the gallery. She is currently featured in Nostalgia, where her richly emotive paintings resonate with the exhibition’s exploration of memory, place and the enduring threads that connect our past and present.
