Maria Kreyn
Niznii Novgorod, Russia b. 1987
Maria Kreyn (b. 1987) is an American artist known for evocative paintings that merge figuration, abstract geometries, and elemental atmospherics. Self-taught in painting, she studied mathematics and philosophy at The University of Chicago. She builds upon these disciplines in her works, combined with interests in neuroscience and mythology, producing atypical and polymathic connections between disparate fields, and offering stirring visual metaphors for complex scientific ideas. Steeped in the western tradition of painting, Kreyn distils these references into a personal vocabulary of forms and geometries that result in hybrid compositions situated at the intersection of formalism and Romantic painting. Her expansive canvases are emotionally charged meditations on nature, the body, and the mystery of deep time.
Kreyn's work has been featured in publications including Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, The Art Newspaper, The Financial Times, and many others. Housed in collections internationally, Kreyn's public works include a cycle of eight monumental paintings based on plays by Shakespeare, which were commissioned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and are now on permanent display in the lobby of London's historic Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2021). Kreyn’s solo exhibition during the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 was presented by the M.O.N. Art Foundation, staged at St. George’s Church in Venice, Italy.
Kreyn lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.