Work samples

  • Black Narcissus
    Black Narcissus

    Black Narcissus, 24" x 24", oil on canvas,  2020

    Available for Purchase
  • Bat Eye Blob
    Bat Eye Blob

    Bat Eye Blob, 22” x 20”, Watercolor on hot press paper, 2023

    Available for Purchase
  • eyes tongues_1.jpg
    eyes tongues_1.jpg

    Eyes Tongues, 20" x 16", watercolor on hot press paper, 2024

    Available for Purchase
  • Woman At her Bath (After Degas)
    Woman At her Bath (After Degas)

    Woman At Her Bath (After Degas), 36" x 36", oil on canvas, 2020

    Available for Purchase

About Marybeth

Baltimore City

Marybeth Chew is painter originally from Wilmington, DE. She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 2001-2005, and received an MFA from the Leroy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at MICA in 2016. 

 

Film Reference Head Studies

I have worked with paused images of faces from film reference since the early 2000's. The attraction to these images is first my love of the films and genre film itself. I have watched so many genre and B films that they are part of my own imagination and are the most comfortable source of catharsis for me. I love the beauty of film as a medium, and try to preserve its look in my paintings, while remediating the effect and expression of that imagery into corporeal thick and layered paint.  Initially, I worked with images from paused vhs tapes, and now use digital photos of an old tube tv for reference. The cathode tube lighting heightens color and distorts details in a way that is inspiring to me aesthetically and which helps me add to the image from my own interpretation, identification, and expression. 

The impetus for these paintings is processing emotional experiences into a simplified direct proxy, much like how genre and pulp stories work on our imaginations. They are an emotional release for me, as images and in the process of painting. I choose images that impact me both as pictures and moments within the experience of a story. Paused, the expression is separated from the events, and the isolation makes the images open as conduit of just feeling, interpretable for both myself and the viewer.  

  • Witch
    Witch

    Witch, 36” x 24”, Oil on Canvas , 2023

    Available for Purchase
  • Fighter
    Fighter

     Fighter, 24” x 18”, oil on panel, 2023

    Available for Purchase
  • Bloody Teeth
    Bloody Teeth

    Bloody Teeth , 24” x 24”, Oil on Panel, 2023

    Available for Purchase
  • Ghosts and More Ghosts
    Ghosts and More Ghosts

    Ghosts and More Ghosts , 24" x 24", 2023, oil on canvas

    Available for Purchase
  • Pieces
    Pieces

    Pieces, 20 x 24, oil on canvas, 2022

    Available for Purchase
  • Black Narcissus
    Black Narcissus

    Black Narcissus, 24 x 24, oil on canvas, 2020 

  • Blood Theater
    Blood Theater

    Blood Theater, 24" x 24", oil on canvas

    Available for Purchase
  • Invasion UFO
    Invasion UFO

    'Invasion UFO', 10" x10", oil on canvas, 2017

    Available for Purchase
  • Birds
    Birds

    Birds, 2004, 18" x 16", oil on canvas

  • Alice Sweet Alice
    Alice Sweet Alice

    Alice Sweet Alice, 2004, 20" x 20", oil on canvas

Serial Watercolors

These serial watercolor painting use reference from genre film, stray internet imagery, my snapshots, and imagination. They are maximalist sci fi fantasy non linear narratives, and are inspired by the movement of time in film, the genres of science fiction, B horror, and experimental film, the history of western painting, comic books, dream imagery, and quasi metaphysical ideas via pop fiction.

In this work I am enjoying many weird varied stories and combining them into elusive almost stories. The media references often contain problematic cultural symbols and subtexts. Part of the process in each piece is an associative exploration of ideas and discovering what has been subconsciously generated in my internalization of them.

 The ultimate whole, materially and narratively, adds a historically weighted tactility, urges inferences, and suggests threads of mysticism in popular media and cyberspace.

  • Bat Eye Blob
    Bat Eye Blob

    Bat Eye Blob, 22” x 20”, Watercolor on hot press paper, 2023

  • Eyes Tongues
    Eyes Tongues

    Eyes Tongues, 20" x 16", watercolor on hot press paper, 2024

    Available for Purchase
  • In the Air
    In the Air

    In the Air, 22" x 30", watercolor on hotpress paper, 2024

    Available for Purchase
  • Lair.jpg
    Lair.jpg

    Pace, 23” x 30”, Watercolor on 400 lb cold press paper, 2023

    Available for Purchase
  • 3- Portal, 22” x 23”, watercolor on cold press paper, 2023.jpg
    3- Portal, 22” x 23”, watercolor on cold press paper, 2023.jpg

    Portal, 22” x 23”, watercolor on cold press paper, 2023

    Available for Purchase
  • Snake
    Snake

    Snake, 12" x 14", watercolor on cold press paper, 2022

  • Loving Your Fate
    Loving Your Fate

    Loving Your Fate, 2021, 22" x 20", watercolor on cold press paper

  • Looked Back
    Looked Back

    Looked Back, 20" x 18", watercolor on cold press paper, 2022

    Available for Purchase
  • Farther Out
    Farther Out

    Farther Out, 20" x 16", watercolor on hot press paper, 2022

  • Transmit
    Transmit

    'Transmit', 16" x 12", watercolor on cold press paper, 2021

    Available for Purchase

Serial Oil Paintings

  • It is a Good Life Which Leads to a Good Death
    It is a Good Life Which Leads to a Good Death

    'It is a Good Life Which Leads to a Good Death', 36" x 36", oil on canvas, 2022

    Available for Purchase
  • Woman at Her Bath (After Degas)
    Woman at Her Bath (After Degas)

    ' Woman at Her Bath (After Degas)' , 36" x 36", oil on canvas, 2020

  • Night Walk, 18" x 24", oil on canvas, 2021
    Night Walk, 18" x 24", oil on canvas, 2021

    Night Walk, 18" x 24", oil on canvas, 2021

    Available for Purchase
  • Blood Feast
    Blood Feast

    Blood Feast,  22" x 18", Oil on Canvas, 2019

  • Re Enactment
    Re Enactment

    'Re-Enactment' , 18" x 24", oil on canvas, 2019

    Available for Purchase
  • Peeping Tom in the Slime Bowl a Rama Beyond the Stars
    Peeping Tom in the Slime Bowl a Rama Beyond the Stars

    'Peeping Tom in the Slime-Bowl-a-Rama Beyond the Stars', 20 x 16, oil on panel, 2020

    Available for Purchase
  • Mirror Crack'd (With Elizabeth Taylor)
    Mirror Crack'd (With Elizabeth Taylor)

    Mirror Crack'd (With Elizabeth Taylor)  54" x 28", Craft Paint and Acrylic on canvas, 2018

    Available for Purchase

Habitats

During quarantine I began this series of natural history display paintings, thinking essentially about extinction. The artificial scenes felt relatable to the surreal experience of interacting through computer screens, feeling like a display myself. As the series progressed I began to think of these more as considering mediated presentations and odd illusions of nature.   

  • Lion
    Lion

    Lion, 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2021

    Available for Purchase
  • Primates Case at the Smithsonian
    Primates Case at the Smithsonian

    Primates Case at the Smithsonian, 24" by 2'4" oil on canvas, 2017

  • Birds Display Case
    Birds Display Case

    Bird Display Case, 36" x 24", Oil on canvas, 2021

    Available for Purchase
  • Chameleon
    Chameleon

    Chameleon, 16" x  20", oil on canvas, 2022

    Available for Purchase
  • The Long Climb
    The Long Climb

    The Long Climb, 16" x 20", oil on panel, 2022

  • Zoo Interior Room
    Zoo Interior Room

    Zoo Interior Room, 18”x 18”, oil on panel, 2021

    Available for Purchase
  • Big Cat
    Big Cat

    Big Cat, 12" x 12" oil on panel, 2022

  •  Museum
    Museum

    Museum, 18x 24, oil on panel, 2021

    Available for Purchase
  • Big Cats Display
    Big Cats Display

    Big Cats Display- Detail-, work in progress , 30" x 40"

Scenes

  • Kid With TV
    Kid With TV

    Kid With TV,  18" x 24", oil on panel, 2023

  • Car Explosion 2
    Car Explosion 2

    Car Explosion 2, 12" x 16", oil on oil paper, 2023

  • Car Exploding
    Car Exploding
  • Little Stories
    Little Stories

    "Little Stories" 12"x 12", oil on panel, 2021

    Available for Purchase
  • Rendezvous
    Rendezvous

    Rendezvous, 36" x 24", Oil on Canvas, 2019

  • Battle Beyond the Sun
    Battle Beyond the Sun

    Battle Beyond the Sun, 36" x 24", Oil on Canvas, 2018

  • Amazing Colossal Man
    Amazing Colossal Man

    Amazing Colossal Man, 24" x 24", Oil on Panel, 2018

    Available for Purchase
  • Miniseries
    Miniseries

    Miniseries,12" x 12", Oil on Panel, 2018

  • Annie Opens the Door
    Annie Opens the Door

    Annie Opens the Door, 12" x 9", oil on canvas, 2016

  • Bears
    Bears

Before and After

Taken from 'before/after' cosmetic surgery advertisements, these paintings raise issues about the power of objectification, how we relate with our embodiment, and how much we are possessions of a society.  These images illustrate culture manipulating the extremes of the personal, physically transforming these many individual forms. My emphasis is on commonality between the persons throughout these body states, and a fluctuating, elastic, sense of identity. 

 

  • Before and After Tummy Tuck
    Before and After Tummy Tuck

    Before and After Tummy Tuck, 30" x 30", 2019, Oil on Canvas

    Available for Purchase
  • Before After Abdominoplasty
    Before After Abdominoplasty

    Before After Abdominoplasty, 24" x 18", oil on canvas, 2019

    Available for Purchase
  • Before and After All Together 2
    Before and After All Together 2

    Before and After All Together 2 , 46" x 38", 2019, Oil on Canvas

    Available for Purchase
  • Before and After All Together 1
    Before and After All Together 1

    Before and After All Together 1 ,  24" x 24", 2019 Oil on Canvas

    Available for Purchase
  • Before and After Lipo
    Before and After Lipo

    Before and After Lipo, Oil on Canvas, 48" x 46", 2017

  • Before and After Stomachs
    Before and After Stomachs

    Before and After Stomacha, 20" by 16", 2016, oil on canvas

    Available for Purchase
  • Before and After Stomach 2
    Before and After Stomach 2

    Before and After Stomach 2, Oil on Canvas, 20" x 16", 2016

  • Before After Implant
    Before After Implant

    Before After Implant, 36" x 48", 2016

  • Before After Butts
    Before After Butts

    'Before/After Butts' 20" by 16" 2016 oil on  canvas

  • Before and After Butts 2
    Before and After Butts 2

    Before and After Butts 2, Oil on Canvas, 20" x 16", 2016

Marker Drawings

This series of marker drawings were a bridge for me to watercolor and personal workshop of playing with story in multiple panels. They mostly use reference from just one film as an attempt to capture a gestalt of that film. A few branched out into combining references and creating a new story or set of comparisons. 

 

 

  • Little Shop of Horrors
    Little Shop of Horrors

    Little Shop of Horrors, 13" x 15", marker on tracing paper, 2017

  • Skin Comes Off
    Skin Comes Off

    Skin Comes Off

    11 x17

    2017

  • Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery
    Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery

    Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, 8 1/2 " by 11", marker on paper, 2017

  • Alligator
    Alligator

    Alligator

    8 1/2 x 11

    2019

  • Def by Temptation
    Def by Temptation

    ' Def by Temptation' 11 x 14 2019

  • Over the Edge
    Over the Edge

    Over The Edge, 8 1/2 x 14, 2017

  • Body Melt
    Body Melt

    Body Melt, 17" by 11", marker on paper, 2017

  • Masters of the Skies
    Masters of the Skies

    Masters of the Skies, 11" by 17", marker on paper, 2017

  • V
    V

    V, 17" by 11", marker on paper, 2017

  • The Being
    The Being

    The Being

    8 1/2 x 11

    2019