Artist Bio
Maria Elias, born in 1999, is an interdisciplinary artist living in Northern VA. She has a BFA in Interdisciplinary art with a minor in Spanish from the University of Georgia. Her experience as a first generation Mexican American heavily influences her work. Throughout her life she has faced racial and social injustices. She has also witnessed her immigrant parents face inequality in a country that advocates for equality. All of these experiences have inspired Maria to raise awareness for the disparities her community faces. To get her message across, she creates surreal pieces of work that incorporate bright colors using either colored pencils or oil paints. Her interest in saturated color comes from her culture. The house she grew up in was decorated with blue, green, and purple walls and artisanal works of art from Mexico. Maria likes to add elements of surrealism into her work to create an uneasy experience for the viewer that mirrors her life. As an interdisciplinary artist, she likes to continuously explore new ways to create art and different subject matters to focus on. She also likes making work based on her mental illness and how bipolar disorder affects her life. It's a form of therapy in itself and helps create awareness on the issues and stigma surrounding mental health. Aside from the traditional mediums of art, Maria has worked with sculpture, video, and screenprint. Focusing on these topics and various artistic methods, Maria continues to create interdisciplinary art in her new home studio since graduating in December of 2021.