RIVANS Maria
Bio
Maria Rivans’ eye-popping collages explore the idea of existing alternate realities and fantastical other worlds which transport us into a surreal and exciting universe. By appropriating an array of sourced vintage ephemera, Maria seeks to overwhelm us with her compositions by combining vivid and seductive colors with powerful and often humorous imagery.
Best known for her intricate surreal landscapes, pin-up portraits and 3D boxed works, the viewer often experiences a visual and sensory overload from the hundreds of carefully cut-out found elements culled from her huge collection of vintage paraphernalia.
Influenced by the extraordinary colors of Hitchcock films shown in Technicolor and sci-fi TV shows such as Land of the Giants and Planet of the Apes, these heroes from the past have been altered by combining and blending other found imagery scavenged from different eras, thus inviting the viewer into her strange and peculiar world.
Rivans’ collages have a firm running theme of vintage Hollywood films, B Movies and TV trash. The screenplays of vintage films like ‘The Birds, Mildred Pierce and Planet of the Apes’ have been rewritten and reinvented, resulting in newly collaged screen plots, which intertwine throughout her body of work, spinning bizarre and dreamlike tales.
The Pin-up series has been evolving rapidly. Each individual movie star develops their own firm identity, as if they were a solid memorable character starring in one of Rivans’ invented scripts. These leading ladies have been highly influenced by strong female actors like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford who made a huge impression on Rivans when she was a child. The Pin-up characters hold qualities of women who are particularly empowered and have recently been named after famous women explorers and inventors.
CV
EXHIBITIONS
SAATCHI GALLERY, My work can now be seen in the Editions Print Gallery at the Saatchi Gallery, Kings Road, London. 2015
Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead and Battersea London, with Liberty Gallery, 2014
20/21 International Art Fair, Royal College of Art, London with Liberty Gallery, 2014
LA Gallery, Soho, London. Joint show with Bonnie and Clyde, 2014
Will’s Art Warehouse, London and Hong Kong, 2014
London Art Fair with Liberty Gallery, 2014
BACK TO NATURE - SOLO SHOW INK-D GALLERY 2013 96 North Road, Brighton BN1 1YE 3 May - 2 June 2013
With the theme of nature as a backdrop, I have converted the gallery into a fantastical jungle environment, complete with astro turf and tumbling flora and fauna, transporting you physically into my surreal world in which to explore my humorous and bizarre 3D collages. Mind your head!
UNRAVELLING THE VYNE
THE VYNE, THE NATIONAL TRUST, nr Billingshurst 2013 Short Cuts and Pop-Ups - an instillation to be commissioned and made for the Unravelled group. June - Dec 2013
THE MEDICI GALLERY, CORK STREET, LONDON 2012 December Group Show THE BISCUIT FACTORY 2012 Winter Show, Nov 2012
NEW YORK AFFORDABLE ART FAIR 2012 My work will be represented by Cube Gallery MADE IN BRIGHTON 2 2011 Ink-d Gallery, 96 North Road, Brighton
AWARDS AND COMMISSIONS
UNRAVELLED Commission awarded to make an installation for Unravelled in the Library of the National Trust House, The Vyne, near Billingshurst.
PENGUIN PUBLISHERS COMMISSION 'HEART OF DARKNESS' Check out the book cover I was commissioned to design for the classic 'Heart of Darkness'. An amazing read, the film Apocolypse Now was based on the book.
AESTHETICA CREATIVE WORKS COMPETITION FINALIST Finalist for the Aethetica Creative Works Annual 2011 for 'If You Go Down to the Woods Today...' This collage was chosen from 4000 entries and can now be seen in the annual.
Celebrating contemporary art and culture, the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual 2011 is an anthology that brings together the winners and finalists from the Aesthetica Creative Works Competition.
