Poker Painting

Maria Petroff is a contemporary self-taught artist inspired by controversial people who make a certain impact on our society. Their personas are admired and loved or hated and mocked. Maria is just an unbiased observer whose goal is to evoke emotions from the viewers. When asked if she’s admired by all the personalities she paints, she would answer that she’s admired by their role in our life not by them. “You shall not make yourself an idol..” People should not declare other mortals to be saint. We are all sinners, born like this.. The artist identifies her art as a certain mixture of pop art and realism. She believes that realistic portraiture is the most efficient way to express character’s feelings, thoughts, emotions. Maria likes to paint aged people as the minor details of each wrinkle reflect a huge life experience of a character. The french artist, Edgar Degas, once said: “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see”. This quote is very accurate. No matter what you want to express through a piece of art, the viewer will see it his own way, will have his own perception. Which is great as art is here to make people think.