Studio Marina Gavanski-Zissis

“I draw enormous inspiration from people. I love walking around Montreal, watching people, the way they move and interact with others, how they look at and speak to each other. Montrealers are an endless source of inspiration,” says artist and studio owner, Marina Gavanski-Zissis, explaining the drive to continually push her artistic practice. “People have this aura, this unique energy, and that feeds my creation.”

Marina creates unique paintings and portraits, which she shows during exhibitions and sells to clients, who are just as likely to be art collectors as enthusiasts, or even families wanting to invest in a piece of artwork and bring a touch of refinement to their homes in the process. “I work with oil and watercolour, and some of my pieces are mixed media. I would describe my style as resolutely expressionistic, and I work in figurative art mostly,” she specifies.

Marina’s clients buy her painting outright, or commission works, mostly portraits. “Those portraits are often intended as very personal gifts," she explains. "I believe that this is a very unique approach. I work primarily from models and photographs.”

In addition, Marina rents out her work to TV or movie productions, or businesses looking to tastefully decorate their offices, as needed.