Marie-José is a contemporary visual artist based in Inglewood, California. Born in San Francisco in 1992, Marie has been exploring the multiplicity of the Black femme experience through painting, collage, and mixed media including stained glass, tile mosaic, and textile arts for over a decade. They employ surrealism as a tool for re-imagining the past and inspiring a previously indiscernible future and cite Rene Magritte, Dorothea Tanning and Kerry James Marshall, as well as their own Nigerian heritage as significant influences. Concepts for the work originate from an exploration of self combined with uncanny allegorical imagery. Defining their style as ‘Afro-Surrealistic’, Marie’s work reexamines the pre-conceived barriers of Black liberation.
Marie-José sitting alongside their artwork. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Marie-José has participated in numerous group exhibitions, art markets, and festivals nationwide. Their paintings were featured in the Affordable Art Fair in New York and Aqua Art Miami in Miami Beach in 2022. They have also shown their work at galleries including Brea Gallery in Brea, CA, Soft Times Gallery and Marlowe Gallery in San Francisco and the Museum of Science + Industry in Chicago. In 2022, Marie-Jose was an Artist in Residence participant in Albuquerque, NM, and Fukuoka, Japan. They were a Destination Crenshaw Round 5 Mini Mural Awardee in 2023 and had their art featured in the LA Times. They made their international debut with a two-person exhibition with Studio Kura in Itoshima, Japan in July 2022. Their debut solo exhibition (Between Walls, I Find My Voice) opened in January 2025 with Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Los Angeles.
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