Hello, my name is Maria Skakun, I’m an expressionist artist, performer, teacher and art therapist. Participant of international exhibitions. I live and work in France, in Rambouillet.
Born in Belarus
I have been drawing and studying fine arts since childhood, but since 2017 painting has become my main occupation. For 8 years I have been building a career in the IT and Fashion industry as a designer and art director, after which I decided to leave this activity and allow myself to create as an artist.
A free and strong line for me is communication and energetic connection with the world. I create art that inspires people and provides new meanings
In the creative process I explore the intuitive nature of lines, the unconscious, and experience various psychological states. I work with emotions and feelings. Likewise, through painting, I explore the nature of flesh and sexuality.
Performance helps me to be more open to the world and to experience art.
For me, the process of creating the painting is very important. At first I create an emotional expression on the canvas, during this process I spit out all my emotions and my state, it is like a dialogue with the unconscious. Then I look for the form of this expression – this is a conscious and always interesting process, because at the beginning of the work I trust myself completely and I never know what I will get in the end.
I work more often without a sketch – in this style and approach I feel bold and alive. I write abstractions, portraits and nudes.
My paintings a characterized by seriality, for a deep immersion in the subject.
I work in a mixed author’s technique with oil, acrylic, wax pencils, etc.
Collaborations with other artists and designers allow me to understand the purity of creativity through synergy and improvisation.
I’m open to the exchange of ideas and creative collaborations.
My first interview in French in Diamond magazine! 15 pages. We are talking about meanings, the impact of emigration on art, the process, etc.
Education
Training in modern art therapy, IEBC, Minsk, 2018-2021
Bachelor’s degree in virtual environment design, ICM, Minsk, 2007-2012
Minsk State College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, architect, 2003–2007
Minsk High School of Art №1, 1994-2003
Collections
My works are in private collections in Belarus, France, USA, Poland, Germany, Russia, India, Sri Lanka, Israel, Lithuania.
I have 7 solo exhibitions
| Event | Gallery | Place | Year |
| “Immersion. Portraits” | TUT.BY Gallery | Minsk, Belarus | 2018 |
| “Mirror” | Art Gallery | Minsk, Belarus | 2017 |
| Immersive exhibition “Labyrinth Bardo” Sketching exhibition “Travel with me” Painting exhibition “Art philosophy” Painting exhibition „Faces and eyes” Solo exhibition | Hide “Coffeevarium” Art gallery Filadora art, gallery of different Art Bar ”WE” Maison L’Amérique Latin | Minsk, Belarus Minsk, Belarus Poznan, Poland Paris | 2019 2021 2021 2022 2023 |
I am a participant in 15 group exhibitions
| Event | Place | Year |
Artrip “Arts Mantevillois” Pink exhibition of art “Hands to touch” The exhibition »Broken phone » The exhibition “Love” Festival of Russian contemporary dances “Proba” with the cinema-dance project “N” | Saint -Mánde, Paris, France Mantes-la-Ville, France Marks.Books Minsk, Belarus Art studio ANLOHOME, Grodno, Belarus, Minsk, Art Space of “Vershy” (19 Oktyabrskaya St.) Moscow, Russia | 2024 2023 2022 2022 2022 2021 |
| Artivism & solidarity, online exhibition of laboratory participants, action “Liberation” within the laboratory on actionism | Online | 2021 |
| “Love line. Eroticism in the works of the great masters of the 20th century” | NCCA, Minsk, Belarus | 2020/21 |
| “Before/After/2020.Belarus” | Krakow, Poland | 2020/21 |
| “Critical thinking. Art exhibition“ | Pireus, Poznan, Poland | 2020 |
| “Autumn Salon’20”, Republican exhibition for sale | Palace of Arts, Minsk | 2020 |
| “ART CAPITAL 2020” | GRAND PALAIS, Paris, France | 2020 |
| “Sketchbook exhibition” | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk | 2018 |
| “U-festival”, festival of self-expression and free creativity | Minsk 2018 | 2018 |
| “I am Monet I am Shishkin I am Malevich” | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Minsk | 2018 |
Performances
| Event | Place | Year |
| Poetic art performance ROZHDENIE”, festival “Millennium Mythology” | Poznan, Poland Ok16, Minsk | 2021 2019 |
| “ROZHDENIE” | HIDE, Minsk | 2019 |
| “PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST” | HIDE, Minsk | 2019 |
Participation in educational international projects
- 2021 – “Soft skills” “NGO Logos” and Erasmus plus, France.
2021 – “Critical thinking” “NGO Logos” and Erasmus plus, France.
2019 – “Carpathian stories” “NGO Logos” and Erasmus plus, Ukraine.
2019 – “Critical thinking” “NGO Logos” and Erasmus plus, France.
Contacts
Telephone: +33 761512039
E-mail: mari.skakun.art@gmail.com