Marisa Andropolis

Marisa Andropolis recently graduated with her Masters of Fine Art at The University of Mississippi where she pursued her degree in studio art with an emphasis in painting.

 

Born in 1986, art had been a part of her life since she was a child. Growing up in a sci-fi household, Marisa would watch Star Wars with her dad as a child and spend hours drawing each space ship trying to get it as accurate as possible. She also had a favorite cartoon growing up, Ren and Stimpy, and the idea of having a chihuahua of her own soon grew into an obsession of drawing a chihuahua over and over again, which became her trademark in the Andropolis household. From this, she continued to pursue art, using it as a way to express herself in ways she could not otherwise. She continues to find ways to put her sci-fi influences into her work (sometimes even hiding it for viewers to discover upon close examination).

She graduated from Bowling Green State University in 2011 with a Bachelor in Two- Dimensional Art with a minor in Italian Renaissance Art History. In 2013, she received her Post-Bacclaureate degree at SACI (Studio Arts College International) in Florence, Italy with an emphasis in Painting and Art Conservation/Restoration. In 2018, she graduated with her Master of Fine Art in studio art with an emphasis in painting at The University of Mississippi. Falling in love with teaching during her tenure there, she is pursuing a career in teaching painting full time.

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With an interest in portraiture, Marisa continues to search to combine aspects of people that are visible as well as hidden away from society. She works in themes of revealing and concealing parts of the self that compose of a person's identity. In her current body of work, she continues questioning notions related to identity and portraiture. These questions may, or may never be truly answered, but she aims to create portrait paintings that bring her one step closer to a personal resolution with each new painting.

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Marisa always finds a way to put herself into her work. She creates different images of herself to explore her own identity, interests, and even issues. She opens herself up and puts it on the canvas to share with the world. However, she has a beautiful way of allowing people to create their own feelings and bring their own experiences to her work, and not tell them what they need to or should feel. She takes from her experiences, but leaves it ambiguous enough to give viewers the freedom to react to them. Her work is not merely about portraiture, but intends to pose questions about identity and how we view reality, while concurrently orchestrating/creating narratives for the viewer. Her ultimate goal is to leave the viewer pondering, wondering what it truly means to be yourself. 

Marisa lives in Chicago, IL. She is open to commissions of all subject matter. Prices are based on size. A pricing list can be found in the commissions section. If you are interested, please send a message in the provided contact section.