GABANKOVA, Maria, OSA

Maria Gabankova, OSA, is a mid-career artist who strives to express the philosophical and spiritual aspects of human existence in her highly allegorical work. “I love to search for the hidden, the mystery and poetry in a visual language”, she states. She is also interested in exploring the subtle symbolism of objects, architectural and natural elements, in their relationship to the human figure.

Born in the Czech Republic, Maria immigrated to Canada in 1968. She continued her art education, which had begun at the Ostrava Art School in Prague, at the University of British Columbia, the School of Art and Design in Montreal, the Vancouver School of Art, and the Art Students League of New York, among others.

She is an associate professor of drawing and painting at the Faculty of Art, Ontario College of Art and Design. Maria is a member of Imago, as well as the Pastel Society of Canada, and was elected to the Ontario Society of Artists in 1997.

She has exhibited continuously from 1991 to 2005 in solo and group shows. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, both individual and corporate, including Bombardier, Humberside College, and numerous sites throughout the University of Toronto.

She has been commissioned to paint a variety of portraits, including the novelist, Josef Skvorecky, the pianist Antonin Kubalek, and Dr. D.J. Corbett, the principal of Knox College. Maria's fascination with the subtler elements of the human figure extends to portraiture as well. “The unique character of each individual” she says, “presents a wonderful challenge, one that for me goes beyond an attempt to capture a likeness. The complexity and mystery of a human being is at the very heart of my portraiture.”

Her work has illustrated, and served as cover art, for numerous books, magazines and record albums.

Much of Maria's work reflects the impulses of everyday life, and the vast flow of information, detailing conflict, absence and presence, as well as the forms which conceal and reveal other forms. The mystery and inherent dynamism of human beings is at the very core of her work, that elusive, yet real relationship between the physical outer self, and the inner complex being.

More of Maria's work can be viewed at www.paintinggallery.net