Julie Kopová

Painting is my way of thinking.

Rather than illustrating ideas, I use the act of painting to explore questions that can't be fully answered through language. My work is developed through an intuitive process in which gesture, color, and material become tools for understanding perception and lived experience.

My practice is informed by philosophy, particularly Immanuel Kant’s concept of the sublime. I am interested in the moment when perception reaches its limits, the moment when something can’t be fully captured through representation yet can still be profoundly experienced. I see each painting as something that gradually reveals itself, both to me during its creation and to the viewer through sustained attention. I work primarily with acrylic colors and oil pastels on large scale canvases. The physical act of painting is essential to my process. Movement, rhythm and the resistance of the material shape each work as much as conscious intention. Rather than depicting the real world, my paintings create portals where perception can slow down and meaning can emerge through experience. I am interested in abstraction as a way of engaging with what cannot be directly

represented, those moments that exist between sensation and thought, presence and absence, the personal and the universal.

This, 180x260 cm, acrylic and oil pastels on canvas, 2026

Leviathan, 180x260 cm, acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2026

Narcissus, 200 x 200 cm, acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2025

Will-o’-the-wisp, 260 x 180 cm, acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2026

Alice in Wonderland, 200 x 200 cm, acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2025

@All images courtesy of Julie Kopová