Margarita Krylova

I prefer to see the world as a magical place, and firmly believe that It’s up to us to see the reality that surrounds us with imagination. My work lives in this grey area between the real and the imagined – in memories, coincidences, associations. Many of my paintings are visual diary entries, a reflection of the people who surround me at home, or ones that I met while backpacking abroad. Because I believe that human existence is brimming with mixed emotions, my work tends to be emotionally complex and difficult to label with a single feeling.

I love to travel and gravitate toward nature when I do. Nature is both infinitely complex and diverse while also a part of everything about us. There is an inevitable link between humans and the natural world. In my portraiture, nature is both the backdrop for the subject’s experience, as well as an expression of their internal state. When most connected to their surroundings, my subjects camouflage in tree shadows, dissolving away from consciousness and ego.

For the past several years I have also been working on a series of 3D works in collaboration with my father, who lives in Russia. He hand carves creatures out of wood and I paint the worlds around them using a textured technique combining ink on paper and encaustic. The process provides for an amazing way to stay connected with one of the most important people in my life, and the resulting 3D paintings carry an unusual folk – surreal feel.

Bio 
Margarita’s career as an artist began with Artists for Humanity – Boston, where she worked as a painter, collaborated on public art projects, and was featured in the Boston Globe. In 2012 she studied abroad in Hong Kong through Tufts, where she focused on studying traditional Chinese ink painting. In 2013 she received the Dehn Traveling fellowship through SMFA for a trip to Armenia and Georgia, which resulted in a body of work inspired by the stone structures she photographed while there. In 2014 Margarita graduated from the Tufts and SMFA Combined degree program with degrees in Art and Neurobiology. She spent the following years developing her own voice and teaching art to kids and adults. In 2018-2019 Margarita fulfilled a lifelong dream when she solo backpacked Central Asia, Russia, parts of the Middle East and China, traveling on a tight budget, solely by land. She met people that would inspire much of her recent work and created commissioned murals in Tashkent – Uzbekistan, Isfahan – Iran, Moscow – Russia, and Kaili – China. These days Margarita works from her studio in Western Ave Studios in Lowell, MA, teaches, and participates in outdoor fairs and local events.