Nina Ozbey

Each of Nina Ozbey’s vibrant paintings has its own cadence. Some are fast-paced, abrupt, and persistent, while others are more measured, understated, and varied. Still others begin with a measure, controlled rhythm and then erupt into a swirl of movement and color. Certainly akin to the abstract expressionism that percolated post-World War II art, Ozbey’s work takes the reckless abandon of post-war expressionist painters into different mark-making territory. Like contemporary artist Cecily Brown’s figurative and abstract work, Ozbey’s emotive paintings are not as brash as they are intentionally lively.

Born in Oklahoma City, Ozbey became a teacher after attending Oklahoma State University in the 1960s. She pursued art on her own, transitioning from figurative watercolors to emotive oil painting. The ways in which Ozbey’s effusive marks fill the canvas suggest a certain maturity. Each painting offers insight into the ways in which nature and human life interact—sometimes life appears bleak and vast and sometimes it appears animated and accessible. Ozbey lives and works in Earlysville, Virginia.