Biography
Maria Raskin (b. 1979, Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan) is a mixed-media artist based between Northern Cyprus and Turkey.
​
Her artistic education began in childhood at a local art school, where she studied drawing, painting, composition, ceramics, and art history.
​
In 2001, she earned a Master’s degree in Fashion Design from the A.N. Kosygin Moscow State Textile University, graduating with honors. Her academic training combined fine arts with fashion and textile design, providing a strong foundation in both artistic and applied disciplines.
​
Following her studies, she worked in the Russian fashion industry in visual merchandising and graphic design before transitioning to freelance illustration. She collaborated with publishers and co-authored a children’s book, and her illustrations were exhibited at the Central House of Artists in Moscow.
​
In 2014, Maria completed a Diploma in Traditional Iconography and Ancient Fine Art Techniques at the Trifonov School of Iconography in Moscow, graduating with honors. Several of her icon works are held in a convent church near Moscow.
​
Since 2019, she has been fully dedicated to her contemporary art practice in Northern Cyprus. She has held solo exhibitions in Northern Cyprus, including one inaugurated by the Prime Minister, and her works are part of the permanent collection of the Cyprus Modern Art Museum.
​
In 2022, Maria became a member of the International Association of Art (IAA), representing Turkey, and served as a juror for the New York–based nonprofit art organization Apexart (2022, 2023).
​
In 2024, she contributed as an art critic and authored an audio guide for an exhibition in Copenhagen.
​
In 2025, she became a member of the Eurasian Art Union (EAU).
​
Maria has participated in international art fairs and exhibitions, including Europe Art Fair Amsterdam (2024), Swiss Art Expo (2022, 2024, 2025), and Spectrum Miami Art Fair (2022). She is a two-time recipient of the Certificate of Artistic Achievement from the Luxembourg Art Prize (2023, 2024) and a recipient of the Boynes Monthly Art Award (2025).
Her work has received over 20 international awards and is held in museum, corporate, and private collections.
Her practice has been featured in international publications including Authority Magazine, The Curator’s Salon, ArtistCloseUp, Artsy Shark, Altiba9, and Spotlight Contemporary Art Magazine.
Artist Statement
My current body of work is the result of seven years of dedicated exploration since I began my journey as a full-time artist.
​
I have always been inspired by nature: its diversity, its strength, its endless ability to transform. At the same time, I’ve been deeply fascinated by space and the universe, by their vastness and the mysterious processes unfolding within them. This dual fascination shapes the themes I return to: botanical forms, insects, abstract surfaces that echo organic structures, and imagined human figures, often with an otherworldly, almost elfin presence.
​
These are not depictions of existing reality. I don’t paint what I see, I invent. I’m drawn to creating what does not yet exist: fantasy, dreamlike forms that grow out of observation, but are transformed through imagination. In my work, the earthly meets the cosmic. I imagine what flora and fauna might look like on distant, unknown worlds, what kinds of beings might inhabit them.
​
My background in fashion and icon painting naturally informs my process. I combine textile elements, hand-crocheted lace, and collage with papers created through my oil-on-water technique. In this process, fluid oil pigments form intricate, unpredictable patterns on the surface of water, which are then transferred onto paper. From there, I bring these elements together into cohesive compositions.
​
Each piece holds both an outer and an inner dimension. From the outside, it is about harmony of color, line, and form. From within, it reveals a kind of underlying structure, almost like a skeleton, which I express through lace patterns constructed with intention and rhythm.
​
I’m interested in the tension between the tactile and the intangible: between material presence and something more subtle, almost immaterial, like energy. I also explore how color affects perception and emotional state, shifting between calm, meditative palettes and vivid, life-affirming contrasts, and observing how a painting can quite literally change the viewer’s mood.
_edited.jpg)
.jpg)
Renee Phillips on the Art of Maria Raskin
Maria Raskin is a quintessential artist/healer whose soul-stirring paintings of «Seascapes» comprise euphoric sacred realms. Her transcendent creations envelop us with their therapeutic powers of tranquility, restoration, and renewal.
​
Maria’s paintings convey the highest human aspirations with an emotive blend of imagery and poetry. The natural elements of sky and water merge into healing metaphors and modalities. They lead us into a state of timeless, meditative revelation where we succumb to the present moment of blissful quietude.
​
As a proficient artist in Contemporary Impressionism and color theory Maria orchestrates a symphony of vibrant hues in a luminous reverie of fluid, gentle rhythms. These qualities coalesce and harmonize with the exquisite tactile features she skillfully applies using a palette knife.
​
In some of Maria’s paintings we discover small, silhouetted figures posed in the distance. These accents enhance visual spatial depth while they also evoke spiritual awareness about the universal language of human connection with each other and with nature.
Art Statement by Renee Phillips, Director and Curator, Manhattan Arts International and The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS, New York, NY
Curriculum Vitae
Maria Raskin (b. 1979), Kazakhstan. Lives and works in Nothern Cyprus, Turkey
EDUCATION
​
2011-2014 Diploma in Traditional Iconography and Ancient Fine Art Techniques, Graduated with Honors, Trifonov School of Iconography, Moscow, Russia
1996-2001 Specialist Diploma in Fashion and Costume Design, equivalent to a Master’s degree (WES preliminary assessment), Graduated with Honors, Moscow State Textile University named after A.N. Kosygin, Moscow, Russia
1989-1994 Pre-Professional Fine Arts Diploma, Children's Fine Arts School, Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan
​
​
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Inspiration of Cyprus, Near East University Atatürk Culture and Congress Center Exhibition Hall, Lefkosa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Prime Minister Ünal Üstel opened the exhibition. Curator Erdogan Ergun.
October 27 - November 20, 2023
2021 Exhibition within the Golf Federation Cup, Korineum Golf and Beach Resort Hotel, Esentepe, Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus. October 30, 2021
​
​
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 April Exhibition, Near East University Atatürk Culture and Congress Center Exhibition Hall, Lefkosa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources Hüseyin ÇavuÅŸ opened the exhibition.
Curator Erdogan Ergun. April 25 - May 15, 2024
2023 November Fine Arts Exhibition, Near East University Atatürk Culture and Congress Center Exhibition Hall, Lefkosa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Minister of National Education Nazım ÇavuÅŸoÄŸlu opened the exhibition. Curator Erdogan Ergun.
November 22 - December 15, 2023
2023 Artbox.Project New York 2.0, Manhattan, NYC, USA. April 17 - April 26, 2023
​
2022 Casa Del Arte Palma, Artbox Project Palma 1.0, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. October 24 - November 5, 2022
​
2010 Book Illustration, 5th annual book artists exhibition, Central House of Artists Moscow, Russia. November 1 - November 5, 2010
​
ART FAIRS
​​
2026 UPCOMING: Swiss Art Expo, Artbox.Project Zurich 8.0, SBB Event Hall Zurich Main Station, Zurich, Switzerland.
September 2 - September 6, 2026
2026 Affordable Art Fair Austin, Artseeker Gallery, group booth-5G, Palmer Events Center, Austin, TX, USA; catalogue.
May 14 - May 17, 2026
​
2025 Swiss Art Expo, Artbox.Project Zurich 7.0, SBB Event Hall Zurich Main Station, Zurich, Switzerland. August 20 - August 24, 2025
​
2024 Europ Art Fair Amsterdam, Circle Arts, 5th international exhibition, Gashouder Westergas Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
September 6 - September 8, 2024
2024 Swiss Art Expo, Artbox.Project Zurich 6.0, SBB Event Hall Zurich Main Station, Zurich, Switzerland. August 21 - August 25, 2024
​
2022 Spectrum Miami Art Fair, Artavita Gallery, group booth â„– 100, Mana Wynwood Convention Center, Miami, FL, USA; catalogue. November 30 - December 4, 2022
2022 Swiss Art Expo, Artbox.Project Zurich 4.0, SBB Event Hall Zurich Main Station, Zurich, Switzerland. August 24 - August 28, 2022
​
​
SELECTED AWARDS
​
2025 Certificate Of Artistic Achievement, Boynes Monthly Art Award, international juried art competition by Chantal Boynes, theme: Landscape, Melbourne, Australia. Jurors: Chantal Boynes, Carina Francioso, Gabriella Wyke
​
2024 Certificate Of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize 2024, international annual juried art competition, La Pinacothèque Museum, Luxembourg
2023 Certificate Of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize 2023, international annual juried art competition, La Pinacothèque Museum, Luxembourg
​
​
PRINT MEDIA PUBLICATIONS
2023 Spotlight, issue 33, page 125, contemporary art magazine, Circle Foundation For the Arts Press (est. 2017),
Lyon, France
​
SELECTED WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS
​
2026 Artsyshark.com, «Artist Mariia Raskin presents a colorful collection of stunning textural collages inspired by her love of nature.», Carolyn Edlund, June 9, 2026
​
2025 Medium.com, Authority Magazine, «Artist Mariia Raskin: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Became An Artist», Authority Magazine Editorial Staff, November 13, 2025.
​
2025 Artistcloseup.com, «Interview. Mariia Raskin», Editorial Team, July 16, 2025
​
2025 Thecuratorssalon.com, «Mariia Raskin’s studio», Gita Joshi, July 2, 2025.
2025 Boynesartistaward.com, «Interview With Artist Mariia Raskin», Chantal Boynes, April 29, 2025 View Publication
​
2023 Neu.edu.tr, «Two exhibitions, in which the Cyprus Museum of Modern Arts brought together 100 works of art with art lovers in honor of the 100th foundation anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, were opened by Prime Minister Ünal Üstel at the Near East University Atatürk Culture and Congress Center Exhibition Hall», NEU Staff, October 30, 2023
2023 Altiba9.com, «10 questions with Mariia Raskin», Mohamed Benhadj, May 9, 2023
2021 Artnagrada.ru, «Mariia Raskin shared with us her review of her victory in the international landscape competition from the Art Show International Gallery», Artnagrada Staff, November 22, 2021
​
​
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Cyprus Modern Art Museum, Lefkosa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Korineum Golf & Beach Resort Hotel, Esentepe, TRNC, Turkey
Avtograd Bank, Moscow, Russia
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Cyprus, UK, USA, Germany, Russia
​
​
MEMBERSHIPS
2025 - Present Eurasian Art Union ( EAU )
2022 - Present International Association of Art ( IAA )
​
​
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
2024 The Art of Feeling, UN City, Copenhagen, Denmark. October 10 - October 11, 2024
(audio guide in English and Russian for Naomi Lautier’s solo art exhibition)
​​
​
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2022, 2023 Juror of exhibition concept proposals, Apexart, not-for-profit contemporary visual arts organization, (est. 1994),
New York, NY, USA
​
​
REVIEWS
Renee Phillips, Director and Curator, Manhattan Arts International and The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS, New York, NY