Marina Chisty
Marina Chisty is a Russian-born, New York–based abstract painter whose practice investigates transformation and impermanence through material process. Trained in classical art in Russia and later earning an MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has developed a rigorous studio methodology grounded in experimentation with texture, gesture, and layered surfaces. She is the recipient of the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art.
Working with pigment powder, water, and gravity, Chisty allows material forces to unfold before intervening, positioning instability as both subject and structure. Her surfaces register moments of uncertainty where dissolution and formation occur simultaneously, holding a sustained tension between intuition and control.
For Chisty, liminality is not a transitional phase but an enduring condition. Shaped by her experience of living between cultures, her work reflects a state of continual becoming, where identity remains fluid and unresolved. The paintings inhabit this suspended space, resisting fixity while embracing transformation as a constant.
GrayMatter
2024
48’’ x 60’’ (122 × 152 cm)
pigment powder, charcoal, acrylic on canvas
Wave
2025
48’’ x 60’’ (122 × 152 cm)
pigment powder, charcoal, acrylic on canvas
Fragments
2025
38’’ x 30’’ (97 × 76 cm)
pigment powder, charcoal, acrylic on canvas