Artist Statement

Maura Vazakas

Born and raised in New York, I have been drawing since childhood, inspired by my artist mother. I studied music, but had a passion for art and design. As a teenager, I drew endless fashion sketches. Drawing weaves through almost everything I create.

My paintings are influenced by everything I see, but always end up being about humor, nature, nostalgia and pop culture. Color is key, - recently I have been working with nail polish and glitter.

Screenscapes is a series of graphite drawings depicting a specific location in cyberspace.
http://evsbocaftp.netfirms.com/live.htm. The live webcam captured a specific beach in Boca Raton, Florida. My drawings of the beach are at night, done over a period of a few months at the precise time when the webcam shuts off.

My ongoing photographic series is of a miniature blonde doll from the 70’s named Matty. She loves to travel and discover new places. I leave a trail of her quotes on each photograph to further document the scenes. Another series of photos involve my miniature French poodle named Louie. Inspired by a work-in-progress book entitled, “My Dog is Gay”, this series captures a mock “who-dunnit” shooting of a gay dog(Louie), paralleling the injustices towards gays and others in our society today.

My paintings and drawings have been in galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas,
New York and Boston. I was a featured artist in the publication New American Paintings, Vol. 31.