"The crowded compositions reflect the constant interplay of thoughts and emotions within our minds, where the swift movement of progress (represented by cars), primal instincts (embodied by animals), the need for growth (symbolized by ladders and trees), and the desire for escape and connection (symbolized by planes) coexist."
- Maren Less
Nature With Two Names, 35" x 35", Acrylic On Canvas
In my work, I explore my interior world through a symbolic lens, portraying scenes crowded with cars, trees, animals, ladders, fruits, buildings, houses, and planes. These elements converge to create dynamic visual narratives that mirror the complexities of subconscious experiences and the intricate relationship between our internal and external worlds. Beyond these symbols lies an essential dimension of place—places I have dreamed, traversed, inhabited, and absorbed. Each scene carries the essence of specific locations, imprinted with their vibrancy, chaos, serenity, or melancholy, forming emotional landscapes rather than mere geographical coordinates.
The crowded compositions reflect the constant interplay of thoughts and emotions within our minds, where the swift movement of progress (represented by cars), primal instincts (embodied by animals), the need for growth (symbolized by ladders and trees), and the desire for escape and connection (symbolized by planes) coexist.
As I allow my creations to emerge from a subconscious space, each completed painting is accompanied by a poem. This poetic reflection helps me uncover the significance behind the way space is used in my paintings and the whimsically dark imagery on the canvas. Through this process, I not only decipher the narratives embedded in my work, but also discover deeper layers of my identity as both artist and individual.
Maren Less is a visual artist whose acrylic paintings capture the untamed energy of an active inner life. Her work explores subconscious spaces, inviting viewers into dynamic, layered compositions that blend intuition with structure.
Maren earned her MFA from the Tyler School of Art in 2019 and holds a Post-Baccalaureate degree in Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She completed her undergraduate studies at Kenyon College, graduating with a BA in 2014.
In addition to her studio practice, Maren is a dedicated educator. She has taught at the Tyler School of Art, Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, and currently teaches at Lehigh University and Penn State Abington.
Through her teaching, she encourages students to explore themselves through helping them discover and articulate their unique voices. Maren also has been working in the studio of artist Dona Nelson since 2019.
Maren’s work has been exhibited at Temple Contemporary in Philadelphia, Temple Rome, The Freehold Art Gallery in New Jersey, and ARAMark Headquarters in Philadelphia. Her work has also been featured online at Outsider Art.
Leigh Werrell: For the Moment | Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to present For the Moment, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Leigh Werrell. Werrell’s newest works reflect her long-held fascination with the potent realm between clarity and uncertainty...balancing tonal depth and color with quiet narrative suggestion, offering moments that feel both personal in scope and widely resonant, suspended ‘for the moment’.
Maren Less: Passing Through. | Gross McCleaf Gallery is delighted to present Passing Through., its first solo exhibition of paintings by Maren Less. Less’s imaginative canvases teem with symbolic imagery including cars, trees, animals, ladders, fruits, buildings, houses, and planes. These layered compositions form dreamlike narratives that mirror the complexities of lived experience, where subconscious impulses and external realities converge.
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Maren Less: "As a child, I imagined no boundary between the internal and external. I try to keep that gray space alive in my practice: a space where hope, possibility, and play still thrive. I was enchanted by the worlds of Shel Silverstein, Maurice Sendak, and Lewis Carroll: artists who trusted in the intelligence of children, humor in the scary, and the mystery of being.
...I investigate place on a mostly subconscious level. Many of my earlier paintings are set in suburban landscapes, not intentionally, but because those environments were part of my everyday world. The places I spend time in, or even just long for, tend to seep into the work without me realizing it. I don't assign a hierarchy to anything in my process. If anything, I try to step out of the way and let the image lead. I draw to see what surfaces. The structure, the story, the space: they reveal themselves as I go, and sometimes only much later do I begin to understand their meaning."
