Maria Kreyn (b.1987) is an American artist known for evocative paintings that merge figuration, abstract geometries, and elemental atmospherics. She studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Chicago and is self taught in painting. While drawing polymathic connections between disparate fields, Kreyn’s works are steeped in the western tradition of painting. She distills these references into a personal vocabulary of forms and geometries that result in hybrid compositions situated at the intersection of formalism and Romantic painting. Deriving her technical foundations from old master works, Kreyn reframes these techniques and expands their pictorial vocabulary into a realm of stirring emotional narratives, unique personal histories, and surreal fictions. Her expansive canvases are meditations on nature, the body, and the materiality of time.
Kreyn's work has been featured in Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal, The Art Newspaper, The Financial Times, and many others. Maria’s painting ‘Alone Together’ drives the plot of Shonda Rhimes’ ABC television show The Catch; and her Shakespeare Cycle paintings appear on the award-winning show The Crown. Her public works include a collection of 8 monumental paintings based on Shakespeare, commissioned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, now on permanent display in the lobby of London’s historic Theater Royal Drury Lane. Kreyn’s solo presentation during the 60th International Venice Biennale (2024) was presented by the MoN Art Foundation, staged at St. George’s Church in Venice, Italy.
Maria Kreyn lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Select Press: The Art Newspaper Artnet Sotheby’s Vanity Fair Surface Mag Country and Townhouse ArtNews GQ Juxtapoz PARK Equicap