Opening Reception: January 17, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Cristina Marian is a Romanian-American visual artist whose work explores themes such as her experience within her community, togetherness and the sense of belonging, communal and global changes, and finding peace within unpredictability.
Marian holds a BFA in Painting from the National University of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania, and an MFA from Montana State University, Bozeman. She has exhibited internationally, including in Bucharest, Paris, Oslo, Dakar, and Vienna. Marian’s work has also been shown throughout Montana, in Spokane, WA, and Cincinnati, OH.
For twelve years, Montana has been her home. She divides her time between working in the studio, exhibiting her artwork, teaching and spending time with her baby and husband.
Nowhere To Be But Here is a collection of nine mixed media paintings on canvas about perception, absence, presence, and developing a new sense of orientation when challenges appear. I began work on this show after recently giving birth to a baby girl while also moving to a rural town in Montana. As I grappled with my new body, surroundings, and profound personal changes, I found that the key to re-defining myself was viewing my experiences from a different perspective. As wilderness is not easily accessible from our new home, the act of imagining walks in nature became an energizing inspiration for navigating my new life.
During the course of this journey, my paintings developed gradually into poetic landscapes built from memory, imagination, and layers of paint. Ambiguous versus sharp, defined elements; opposing forces where plant-like forms promise growth while tangled tree branches hinder my path; dense textural areas versus airy expansive surfaces all combining to symbolize an evolving connection to my environment.
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