Victoria Stusiak

Home: Montréal, Québec
Title: Portrait of Meriah
Media: Oil on linen / huile sur toile
Dimensions: 132 x 107 cm

Drawing and painting directly from life requires a fine balance of diligence and curiosity, a task ideally suited to my character. My attraction to represent the figure has been a continual thread throughout my career. It’s a way to explore the physical and psychological relationships that we engage with on a daily basis. Painting portraits from life is a traditional method to document contemporary culture in a personalized way. The experience of prolonged observation intrigues me greatly partially because of its ritual nature; the weekly meetings with the subject combine aspects of attending church and consulting with a psychiatrist, with a visual confession as its outcome. My approach to portraiture has always been to express the ambiguity and subtlety of human character.

EDUCATION:

2001-2005 BFA with Distinction, Painting and Drawing, Concordia University, Montreal

EXHIBITIONS:

2007 Figurative Works, Studio 21 Gallery 2, Halifax
2006 Portraits, Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Toronto
2005 Start, Studio 21 Gallery, Halifax
2005 Roundup, Leonard & Bina Art Gallery, Montreal
2005 Menagerie, Art En Majuscule Gallery, Montreal
2004 Portraits, Gallery Art Mûr, Montreal
2004 New Works, Gallery X, Montreal (Solo)
2002 Anticorps Gallery, Montreal (Solo)
1999 Naked, Harcourt House Arts Centre, Edmonton

AWARDS:

2004 The Stevenson Colour Scholarship
2004 The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation

BIBILOGRAPHY:

2006 Rankin, Jim, “From art to racing”, Toronto Star
2005 Bernard, Elissa, “Emerging artists off to a great Start”, The Chronicle Herald
2004 Crevier, Lyne, “Portrait du Groupe”, Ici
2004 Mavrikakis, Nicolas, “Image Publique”, Voir