Maria Kreyn is a Russian contemporary figurative painter. Her highly realist oil paintings examine human relationships, capturing intimate moments of passion and isolation. Kreyn blends Old Master techniques with a contemporary sensibility, creating illusory surfaces that revel in the artist’s deft handling of paint. “I love it when work is profoundly beautifully made, and when it’s difficult to make. When you work on something for a long time, magic happens, beauty happens,” she has said. “That’s what I seen in great works from the tradition, and that’s what deserves to bridge with our art world. It’s profoundly relevant.” She exhibited her work internationally, including with Lyons Wier Gallery in New York, Pan Galleri in Oslo, and Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles, among many others. Born in 1987 in Russia, she went on to study at the University of Chicago and the School of Representational Art in Chicago. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
