Justinas Zozo

Lithuanian artist Justinas Zozo is so unique and original that it is just mesmerizing. Stencil art professional is mostly capturing nature - colourful birds, wild animals and humans. Quite recently, flower scenes have appeared in his art pieces - he puts his attention into the mixture of hand-painted elements combined with sprayed ones. 

At some point, Justinas' artworks look hand-painted, sometimes - almost like a digital art piece. The artist gives the viewer all the freedom, as there are no explanations given behind each picture. The viewer should concentrate and try not only to see the painting but also to feel it.

Justinas Zozo was the finalist of the Stencil Art Prize in Australia in 2017 and 2019. The manner itself of how every single piece is being created is precise. At first, Justinas looks for an idea. 

When he finds one, he decides either to take a photograph himself or purchase an existing one. It could be either a wild animal, blooming flower, flying bird or a female's portrait. Then the photograph is being divided, split up in plenty of layers. These multiple layers are being cut by the artist's hand only, not using any machinery. 

As the artist says: "Everything is done by hand and most of the time while cutting them I improvise. Lots of remarks to myself, additional lines, arrows drawn to cut or not and freehand drawing can be found on the back of each layer as I make them seconds before cutting." 

After these layers are cut, then the spraying process starts to happen. As he mentioned in one of his interviews, he does not believe in talent. However, in his artworks, you see work and talent equally.

We sat down with Justinas to speak about his past, future and where he is now.

How many times have you participated in the Stencil Art Prize, and what was the outcome of it all?

I have participated in this contest two times – in 2017 and 2019. First time I was surprised to figure out that I was the first Lithuanian to participate in this competition. I have passed both of the times to the final and in 2017 became one of 3 participants to receive the Highly Commended Award. It was the start of a great journey as each contest is completed with several group exhibitions in various locations across Australia. The whole experience was overwhelming.

What kind of reaction do you expect from the viewer?

I remember one day just waking up in the morning with the terrifying idea that my paintings are meaningless. That was when I have started to develop some sort of secret behind each painting. There are smaller or bigger parts of paintings where the viewer is welcome to the journey of finding them. As much as they are visible there is no explanation given so my intention is for the viewer to make it up on their own. I think this is the key of the artist given to the viewer – find the meaning in which you feel pleasant absorbing my creation.

Creating wild nature and portraits of people – what are the main differences through details, attention, process?

There is no particular difference in details throughout the object that I am working with. I would say the main similarity between these is fur and human hair. I do like to push myself to the limit in this area as both are the most detailed parts of each painting. Most of the attention goes to the eyes, as it is a mirror of the inner world and it has to speak its own language. The process is the same although animal fur takes a bit more time to cut compared to human skin texture.

How much do you improvise in your creations? Do you let yourself fall aside sometimes?

I do improvise a lot and constantly. There are areas where I do this while I cut the stencils, some of them are done while spraying. The fun part is that you have to overcome the fear of making a mistake because in the end it can cost you weeks and weeks of work. Once you do that – you will start to repeat it over and over again. It's the most satisfying part of the work I guess.

Would you like stencil art to be portrayed not only as street art but alongside other art styles? Any plans for the future?

I think this is not in my hands. I am just an artist and where my art pieces end - depends on the audience. There is no need to compare styles between each other and if it is separate, let it be that way as I think it makes it even more unique. For the future, I will appoint my time for new directions, new techniques, approaches. It is always great to grow as an artist so for the upcoming year I will be doing just that.