Contemporary Painter — Brooklyn, NY

Color as a second language.

Large-scale abstract oil paintings exploring memory, migration, and the light of borrowed places. Selected works available for acquisition and commission.

Selected Works

  • Study in Ochre No. 4 — oil on linen, 60 × 48 in — Available
  • Field Notes IX — oil and cold wax, 40 × 40 in — Available
  • Borrowed Light II — oil on linen, 72 × 54 in — On hold

Selected Series

  • Borrowed Light — 12 works · oil on linen · 2025–2026
  • Field Notes — 8 works · oil and cold wax · 2024
  • Commissions — by conversation · Open

Exhibitions

  • 2026 — Borrowed Light — solo exhibition, Halstead Gallery, New York — Opens September 12
  • 2025 — Field Notes — solo exhibition, Corridor Projects, Philadelphia
  • 2025 — New Abstraction — group show, Marrow Contemporary, Chicago
  • 2024 — Fresh Paint — juried biennial, Brooklyn Art Center

About

Mara Ellison (b. 1987, Lisbon) is a contemporary painter working in Brooklyn, New York. Her large-scale abstractions begin as field notes — color observations gathered while traveling — and are rebuilt in the studio through layered oil and cold wax.

Her work is held in private collections across the US and Europe. She accepts a small number of commissions each year, developed in conversation with the collector's space and light.

Inquire

For acquisitions, commissions, and studio visits.

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