Lena Zak (b. 1994) is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in painting, sculptural objects, and wall-based sculptures, who also explores installation and photography. Her work centers on the concept of duality, resilience, empowerment and the construct of identity, exploring how opposing forces shape our existence and understanding. By examining political, societal, and psychological tensions, Zak delves into the interconnectedness of light and darkness, presence and absence, creation and destruction, using these contrasts to navigate the complexities of our world. Her minimalist yet symbolic approach employs a restrained palette, predominantly black, alongside tangible light sources, evoking existential contrasts and the tension between fragility and strength.

 

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Growing up in a traditional Catholic society influenced by post-Soviet dynamics in Central Europe, Zak was part of the first generation born into democracy after the fall of a totalitarian regime. She was raised during a moment of flux, in a profoundly polarized social environment, heavily affected by generational trauma and ongoing tensions between Western and Eastern ideologies, as well as between modern and traditional perspectives on life and women’s roles. These experiences informed her interest in duality as a defining force, in resilience and empowerment – that later became the central motifs to her artistic practice.

 

Lena Zak’s artwork is deeply rooted in the elemental forces of light, its absence — darkness, and fire, each serving as both the medium and the metaphor. These forces reflect her ongoing exploration of dualities. For Zak, light represents energy, knowledge, and the animating force of existence, while fire embodies transformation, resilience, and the confrontation of structures. Together, they form the conceptual and physical foundation of her work, bridging the tangible and the transcendental.

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Her painting process is rooted in bodily movement and rhythm, resulting in gestural and performative works with calligraphy-like qualities. The specific marks repeating in Zak's paintings accumulate into a cryptic visual language — an unknown script that feels both ancient and futuristic, intuitive as well as encoded. Together, they form a fragmented yet cohesive archive. The predominantly black visuality reinforces the sense of a coded alphabet, one that transcends verbal meaning and speaks directly to something primal and subconscious. Like an artifact from an undiscovered culture or a language awaiting decryption, her paintings invite you to engage in the act of interpretation, to seek patterns within the tension of the dual aspects of existence itself.​​

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Lena Zak's artwork has been exhibited across European capitals, including Berlin, London, Lisbon, Athens, Bratislava as well as in New York, United States. Her paintings are part of private collections mainly in Prague, Bratislava and the United States. She has completed an art residency programs in Lisbon and a long-term art residency in Berlin. Zak currently lives and works between Czech Republic and Berlin, Germany.