Maria Klabin

Maria Klabin is a contemporary artist, primarily occupied with painting, who lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photography, however, is also an important part of her artistic practice, and in the late 1990s, Klabin moved to New York to further her studies in the field. Soon after, she joined the Art Students League of New York and followed her long-term interest in painting by delving into the study of pictorial language. In 1999 Klabin graduated with honours (BA in art history and visual arts) from Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, U.S.A., where she was the recipient of the ‘Susan May Green Award for Painting’. Three years later, in 2002, she completed her studies and received her master’s degree (MA) from Central Saint Martins-University of the Arts in London.

Klabin’s work has been described as ‘engaging with scenes, occurrences, and landscapes that permeate everyday life and thus, have been seen and experienced exhaustively.’ Most often choosing between intimate and monumental scales for her paintings, the artist establishes different relationships between matter and representation, both in their making and in their fruition.

According to Luis Pérez-Oramas, Ph.D. (born 1960, Venezuelan/American poet, art historian, curator [Latin American Art curator at MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York, between 2006 and 2017] and author of eleven poetry books, seven collections of essays, and numerous art exhibition catalogues), who recently curated two exhibitions with Klabin (the 2021 group show Cross-cuts and the 2022 solo exhibition Liquid Air) at Nara Roesler, New York, ‘her impressive paintings are true repositories of the trace of the gesture, of the density of the oil paint, of her broad, ambitious, fluid and liquid brushstrokes, behaving as the architectural structuring of her compositions.’

Klabin has exhibited with Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Carbono Galeria, São Paulo, Brazil; Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Nara Roesler, New York, NY, U.S.A.; and CFHILL, Stockholm.

Klabin is represented in the following public collections: Museu de Arte Moderna (Museum of Modern Art), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Itau Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil.

Apart from three solo presentations at Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2005, 2008 and 2011), Klabin has also shown her work in the following solo exhibitions: E o dia havia acabado quando começou, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2014); Entre Rio e Pedra, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2017); Paisagem com Casinha, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2021); Liquid Air, curated by Luis Pérez-Oramas, Nara Roesler, New York, NY, U.S.A. (2022); and Frieze Los Angeles, Nara Roesler, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (2025).

To this could be added the following international group exhibitions and art fairs: Ford, London (2002);CAS Art Fair, Contemporary Art Society, London (2003); Arquivo Geral, espaço cultural Tom Jobim, Jardim Botanico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2004); Casa, Museu da Vale do Rio Doce, São Paulo, Brazil (2004); Transit, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires (2004); Exposição de Verão, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2004); Novas Aquisições da Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2005); Além da Imagem, Centro Cultural Telemar, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2005); Além da Imagem, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2006); Paralela, Biennial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2006); Trem de Prata, Museu imperial, Petrópolis, Brazil (2006); Rumos 2005/06 Paradoxos Brasil, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, Brazil (2006); Rumos 2005/06 Paradoxos Brasil, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2006); Exposição de Verão, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2008); Novas Aquisições da Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2012); Festival de Arte Contemporânea, SESC VideoBrasil, São Paulo, Brazil (2012/2013); 30º Festival de Arte Contemporânea SESC, Videobrasil, SESC Pompeia, São Paulo, Brazil (2013); Sp-Arte, Silvia Cintra + Box 4, São Paulo, Brazil (2014); ArtRio 14, Silvia Cintra + Box 4, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2014); The Armory Show, New York, NY, U.S.A. (2014); Art Basel Miami, Miami, Florida, U.S.A. (2014); The Armory Show, Silvia Cintra + Box 4, New York, NY, U.S.A. (2017); Elogios da cor, Carbono Galeria, Paulistano, São Paulo, Brazil (2018); ArtRio 18, Carbono Galeria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2018); Já estava assim quando eu cheguei, Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2020); In Waiting: Works Produced in Isolation, Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil (2020); Paisagem com Casinha, Galeria Silvia Cintra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2021); The Armory Show, Nara Roesler, New York, NY, U.S.A. (2021); SP-Arte, Silvia Cintra + Box 4, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); SP-Arte, Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); Cross-cuts, curated by Luis Pérez-Oramas, Nara Roesler, New York, NY, U.S.A. (2021); Abrasive Paradise, Kunsthal KADE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands (2022); The Armory Show, Nara Roesler, New York, NY, U.S.A. (2022); SP-Arte, Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); Aberto 01, Casa Niemeyer, São Paulo, Brazil (2022); SP-Arte, Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Aberto 02, Casa Villanova Artigas, São Paulo, Brazil (2023); Aberto 03, Casa Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil (2024); Rajada de pincel, Gruta, São Paulo, Brazil (2024); Aberto 04, Maison La Roche, Paris (2024); The Armory Show, Nara Roesler, New York, NY, U.S.A. (2024); Art Basel Miami, Nara Roesler, Miami, Florida, U.S.A. (2024); Frieze Los Angeles, Nara Roesler, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (2025) and Carnival: An Odyssey of Brazilian Art, CFHILL, Stockholm (2025).

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