Biography

Marlaina Schiman is an oil painter whose work examines the psychological complexity of intimacy, perception, and identity as experienced through the medium of the body. Their paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Pennsylvania, including presentations at James Oliver Gallery and the Trenton City Museum.

Schiman has participated in juried exhibitions such as Ellarslie Open 42 and Feminist Revolution at the Alice Paul Center for Gender Justice. Their work has been published in the Penn Journal of Art and Science and other arts publications.

They are the recipient of the Harvey and Harriet Alpert Creative Achievement in Fine Arts Medallion and received a B.F.A. in Painting from Rowan University in 2025. Schiman is based in Philadelphia.

Artist Statement

Working from close observation, I depict figures in quiet states of proximity where weight, contact, and spatial relation convey intimacy. These observed moments inform my more constructed compositions in which the figure becomes unstable, folding and repeating into layered configurations. The body operates as both subject and agent, formed by the conditions it inhabits and acting upon them. Forms are partially obscured or doubled, emphasizing perception as contingent, inseparable from the physical conditions that produce it. Together, these paintings position the body as the site where interior experience takes shape, where intimacy is not only perceived, but materially enacted and sustained.