Maria Jean is a visual fine artist and curator. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design from The New School Parsons Paris. Central to her creative practice and curatorial interests are the philosophy of aesthetics and the confluence of fine art and design. The latter often appears as a foundational point of inquiry in her artistic work, in which principles of both disciplines are seamlessly synthesized through the hybridization of physical and digital media, melting the boundary between reality and artifice. Thematic and stylistic elements of nostalgia, kitsch, semiotics, and sensuality reflect early exposure to canons of contemporary fine art and design that most notably include Peter Alexander of the Light and Space movement and the respective seminal contributions made by Karim Rashid and Gianni Versace to industrial and fashion design. Maria Jean has exhibited work in her hometown of San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; Paris, France; Stockholm, Sweden; Berlin, Germany; and Portland, Oregon, where she co-directs after / time gallery.