New York City-based Russian-American artist Marina Chisty draws inspiration from the complexity and layered experiences of urban life. Her early connection to art started in Russia at a children’s art school, where she discovered a passion for visual expression. Over time, she honed her skills, influenced by her cultural background and an affinity for abstraction and color symbolism. These formative years shaped her approach to art, blending the emotional with the abstract.
Marina’s dedication to her craft has been steadfast. Since 2018, she has been part of the Art Students League of New York, working under experienced mentors while developing her own voice. Additionally, she is currently pursuing an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a step that demonstrates her commitment to evolving as an artist. Her creative process is deeply intuitive, often painting on the floor, where the act of creation becomes spontaneous and unrestrained. This method allows her to explore her internal world, translating emotion and thought into layered, tactile works.
Her artwork frequently engages with themes of time and transformation. Marina uses dust and pigments to symbolize these ideas, allowing the materials themselves to tell the story. Her piece Grey Matter embodies this concept beautifully. The painting captures the delicate balance between motion and stillness, using pigment as a metaphor for the passing of time. The viewer can sense movement within the static image, as if each particle of pigment is caught mid-flight before settling permanently on the canvas. It speaks to the fragility of each moment—temporary yet eternal in memory.
In Grey Matter, Marina encourages viewers to contemplate their own relationship with time. The piece suggests that time is not just a linear experience, but something more fluid and filled with subtle, almost invisible movements. The pigments seem to have drifted across the surface, suspended in a moment of transition before coming to rest, forming a visual reflection on existence itself.
Another of Marina’s works, Collapse, explores similar themes but through the lens of fragmentation and decay. Here, pigment becomes a dynamic force, shifting and evolving as it interacts with the surface. As the piece unfolds, the materials take on a life of their own, resulting in a work that feels collaborative—a conversation between artist and medium. The process of painting becomes a partnership, with chance playing as much of a role as intention. This organic, evolving quality makes Collapse feel alive, as if the painting is still in motion even after it’s completed.
Marina’s fascination with natural processes is also evident in her work Erosion, where she uses natural pigments to mimic the slow, transformative forces of the Earth. Just as stones are shaped by time, pressure, and environmental factors, her painting mirrors this journey through its gradual layering and breakdown of materials. The pigments themselves, sourced from the earth, reinforce this connection to nature. Erosion is more than a visual representation of geological processes—it serves as a metaphor for the slow, yet inevitable, transformations that occur over time in both the physical world and in human life.
Throughout her body of work, the concept of time—both as a force of creation and destruction—is a recurring theme. By working with materials like dust and natural pigments, Marina draws attention to the impermanence of existence. Her paintings don’t merely sit on the surface; they seem to change, shift, and evolve, much like the processes she seeks to explore. The delicate balance between growth, decay, and rebirth is a central idea in her art, offering a tangible connection between the natural world and human experience.
Marina’s approach to painting is as much about the process as the final result. Her intuitive methods allow her to tap into deeper layers of meaning, creating works that feel alive, constantly in motion. These pieces are not just visual statements but emotional and philosophical reflections. Through her art, Marina offers viewers a chance to consider their own experiences of time, change, and existence.
In this way, her work resonates on multiple levels—capturing not just what is seen, but what is felt. Marina Chisty’s art stands as a reminder that life itself is a continuous process of transformation, a journey where every moment, however fleeting, holds both beauty and meaning.
