about the artist

Maria Cribben

I am an Irish born artist currently living in Brighton. I graduated from the Limerick School of Art and Design in 2011 with an Honours Degree in Fine Art Painting. 

My work is an expressive construction of identity in the contemporary world. Through my process of deconstructing the portrait and re constructing it in an expressive, fluid manner, I began to ponder society’s concept of identity in more depth. 

We exist in an ever expanding world where communication has never been as easy. Technologies enable us to relate to far more people and institutions than ever before, in a multiplicity of forms, providing a stage for those who wish to preform. Each of these demands a different conception of ourselves thus each of us is not one self but many - we are malleable. Social media infiltrates so many facets of our lives that we begin to take on the personas and values of the people with whom we most regularly communicate. As such, our true selves - if such a concept even exists - can become distorted or even lost. 

My work aims to encapsulate our features both real and imagined. The interplay between the features and brushstrokes can leave the viewer determining what is authentic and what is embellished. .

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