Gabbi Maria is a young Canadian artist, born in the town of Perth, Ontario. She has spent the last three years at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, refining her skill set, and developing a cohesive body of work. She works primarily with oil paint, creating large scale portraits and figurative works. Fusing non-naturalistic colors along with flesh tones, she gives the figures a radiance of fluorescent pinks, bright blues, and deep purples. Her work is an expression of femininity through a woman's eyes using the figure as the subject. She paints the female form with both platonic and sexual undertones which both embrace sexuality as well as challenge the immediate sexualization of the female nude. Embellished with colors and fantastical backgrounds it is important the model dictates the painting. Her bright synthetic colors allow the subject to be seen in terms of its painterly qualities, diverging focus from their nakedness and allowing their bodies to be appreciated as art. Gabbi has participated in several exhibitions, including “40 under 40” at the Joseph D. Carrier Art Gallery, and the OCAD Florence Exhibition “Scusa”.