Working from her purpose built studio at her home in Melbourne, Marise Maas successfully juggles a rigorous painting practice with her role as a mother of two.

It is within the rhythmic and gestural nature of Marise Maas’ work that her ethos of pure observation becomes most evident. Informed by a meditative response to the experience of the mundane, Maas refuses to quantify the meaning and purpose of her images. Rather, like the works themselves, the artist allows her examination of form and matter to filter into the structure of paint and line. Citing such masters as Susan Rothenberg as her influences, Maas creates pictorial planes that defy perspective and yet adhere to a compositional structure informed by her formal training as a printmaker.

There is a sense of joy and celebration in Maas' work, her lines responding to the essence of a thing rather than to its implied meaning or value. Discarded tin cans or baking tins carry the same weight and value as a wild flower or a bird wing.

Her works are in numerous major collections nationally and internationally, such as the National Gallery of Australia, BHP Billiton,
Swinburne Institute of Technology and National Australia Bank Collections.

Click here to read Marise's recent interviews with the Melbourne Review, The Design Files, and Daily Imprint.