Rising Stars: Maya Skarzenski

Maya Skarzenski fuses together painting and textiles through a variety of techniques and projects. Her work explores the intersections between the abject and the beautiful.

In many of Skarzenski’s pieces, she works directly on satin; painting and hand embroidering onto it. Areas of embroidery are built up with meticulous yet chaotic needle work.
In other pieces, she explores new ways of utilizing thread. She encases it in acrylic, giving it a new life that is fluid and full of movement. Acrylic and textiles become proxies for the human body, allowing her to investigate it dismembered and reconstructed as landscapes, new creatures, and as objects of ornamentation. She attempts to navigate questions about the complex relationship between the body, materiality, identity, and the spirit.

Skarzenski’s work comes from her fascination with the body’s connection and disconnection with the self. She is interested in how our bodies manifest the self and how art mimics the body in this way. Soft-sculptures, satin paintings, and macro photography are the foundations of her practice but her love of each medium allows her to continuously expand her repertoire. She uses her own emotional responses to guide themes in her work. Uncertainty and ambivalence become fuel for her art production.

Broad Horizon, 2022
Painting, 16″ x 12″

Ultra Delicious, 2022
Painting, 12″ x 16″

Electric, 2023
Painting, 24″ x 32″