ABOUT MARY

Mary Kalabokis is an abstract artist specializing in large colorful works. With a Greek background, Mary has embraced the rich cultural influences of both countries. Growing up in a hardworking family of restauranteurs and entrepreneurs, she balanced school, work, play, and art, a balance she continues to maintain today.

From a young age, Mary found joy in drawing, often spending hours immersed in color. She fondly jokes that her love of vibrant hues may have originated from childhood when her family couldn’t afford the full 64-box of crayons. Whatever the reason, color remains the central focus of her work, embodying her belief that we all need to “Live Life in Color.”

Mary’s artistic journey included many art classes, painting murals, studying fashion, photography, art, textiles, and fashion illustration. She also spent a summer in Paris studying fashion and illustration. After graduating with her master’s degree, she and her husband moved to Los Angeles, where Mary worked in Fashion Design.

Soon, she was inspired by then-Mayor E. Bud Clark’s famous photograph, “Expose Yourself to Art,” which sparked a move to Portland, Oregon. There she found a nurturing environment for creativity. While fashion opportunities were limited, she established a successful career in real estate, all the while continuing to paint, taking art classes, and expanding her portfolio.

Following the birth of their two children, Mary and Taki sought warmer climates and the serenity of waterfront living. With dreams of sailboats and sunshine, they picked up and moved cross country to sunny Cape Coral, FL which boasts over 400 miles of navigable canals. Mary found living on the water inspiring to her art and has made water a central part of many of her artworks.

Today, Mary enjoys life with her family and rescue dog, Penelope, painting on increasingly larger canvases. Her philosophy—both in life and art—is that life is too short. Mary lives as she paints, believing that life should be filled with the things we love and that we must all pursue our dreams and live authentically. Through her vibrant work, Mary aims to spark happiness, motivation, and positive energy to others to live a fulfilling life. She aspires for her art to bring joy, hope, positivity, energy and motivation to those that look at it.  She is often told her art sparks happiness, and positive energy.

Mary’s art combines raw emotion, obsession with color, texture, acrylics and mixed media. In the studio, she works fast, letting her subconscious take over. She loves the freedom of working spontaneously, boldly and loosely. She executes powerful brush strokes and mark making on large canvases and serves them with a hint of abstract expressionism. She often works in series and continuously searching for ways to expand and grow as an artist. She continues to travel often, painting as she goes and collecting inspirations for future works. She loves modern, vibrant cities like London, Paris, New York, Milan, Miami, NY and Los Angeles. She continues to evolve and loves to experiment with different styles, techniques and materials. She explores themes of living your best life, joy, empowerment, and most of all avoiding the mundane. Her goal is to elevate each space her art lives in. She wants to bring color, vitality, energy and light into people’s homes, businesses, public spaces and hearts. She enjoys exploring different concepts and wants her collectors and viewers to feel energized and excited when they see her work. She wants them to feel a positive shift in their happiness, life, etc. Her work is created for those that think outside the box, enjoy color, texture and have a keen eye and love for abstract art.

She draws inspiration from artists such as Gerhard Richter, Jackson Pollock, Wassily Kandinsky and Robert Rauschenberg. She is also inspired most by people, music and movement. She especially loves and is inspired by doers, shakers, creators, and artists. "People are amazing! I love to watch them as they interact, to see their creations, they are capable of so much!"

She believes that art is for enjoyment and the absolute pleasure of the indescribable emotions that it evokes. "I think people sometimes try to make art too complicated. They deconstruct it and analyze it and feel that some statement must be made about it." But really, it's about the relationship between you, the art, and the artist and nothing more. Nothing is required of you."

“Live life in color. There is no time for anything less.”