Shizaru Painting

Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and you are the mirror. ~Khalil Gibran Ewelina Koszykowska was born a caul bearer; a highly rare condition, where a baby is born with a veil of skin over its face. People born under the caul are often gifted with exceptional talents and are believed to possess psychic abilities. Cauls are extremely sought after objects, and people have been collecting them as talismans since the Middle Ages. In 2012, Koszykowska began work on a series of paintings which explore the relationship between the nude and the veil. Drifting like smoke across the canvas, the veil possesses a metamorphic quality affecting all it comes into contact with. As it obscures and reveals the figures, it draws our focus to the translucent and invites us to make our own conclusions on the immateriality of the material. Koszykowska's work creates a visual séance, opening up a dialogue with traditional depictions of the veil as a decorative object and responding to its religious connotations throughout the history of art. Being born under the caul, Koszykowska has an unusually personal connection to the veil. Her own caul disappeared at birth, and it is impossible to resist the temptation to draw parallels between this and the subject matter she chooses to depict; as if the spirit of her caul was somehow exerting an ineffable influence on her paintings. Her work places an emphasis on the importance of human evolution through veils of consciousness. Ewelina Koszykowska was born in Poland. She is a graduate of the Columbus College of Art and Design. Ewelina exhibits her work in galleries and museums across the United States and abroad.