[2] After his 1946 discharge from the World War II United States Navy, Kozlow spent two years painting and working in New York City.
Although his work had achieved some success (and a favorable New York Times mention), he returned to Detroit to marry the love of his life and "get a job".
Despite a successful Detroit advertising career, winning creative awards and large salaries, in 1960 he left it all to live and paint in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Although his landscapes have always been much in demand by collectors, many of his most powerful works are black tempera depictions of bloody bullfights, Holocaust victims, and his enigmatic mid-90s "Masks" series.
Recently there has been a renewed interest in Kozlow's works among art scholars, partly on the strength of his late-nineties paintings, complex self-portraits symbolizing the forces pressing on the life of a great artist.