Hey There
My name is Maria Horvathova. I am a landscape oil and mixed media painter based in Northern Ireland. I was born in Slovakia in 1996, and I moved to Northern Ireland with my family in 2010. I have completed a bachelor's degree of Fine Art Painting (Honours) in 2019 at Belfast School of Art, where I was long listed with RDS Visual Art Award. I went to obtain Masters degree in Fine Art at the same University, and I received Royal Ulster Academy of Arts award at the end of this course in summer 2023.
I am a member of a-n The Artists Information Company since summer 2023 and a member of Catalyst Arts Belfast since 2025.
My work has been selected for many exhibitions nationally, and internationally including 195th Royal Hibernian Academy Dublin, Heriot Gallery Edinburgh, LNV Gallery Latvia, 142nd Royal Ulster Academy of Arts Annual Exhibition, and recently I exhibited along side with Anna Horvathova at John Luke Gallery Arts for All Belfast in July 2025.
All of my paintings are available for sale. I am also open for commissions, and I am always interested about your ideas and interpretations, and would love to hear from you.
About My Work
"Painting is that other freedom, for it can put us in touch with that somewhere else.”
Frank Gehry
My practice explores the reminders of landscape, in a romanticised but experimental approach. I am interested in creating landscape oil paintings that act as an open window into the past and remind the viewer of nostalgic feelings by capturing the intimate moments of the wilderness. At the moment I am inspired by rich nature across County Down. These places connect me with the place that once was in my presence. Reoccurring elements such as the light shining through the trees, the wind blowing through the branches and the birds chirping always bring me such joy and sadness simultaneously. These are sacred moments in nature that I hold feelings and value for.
The selection of three primary colours in my palette helps to create a sense of a place. It sets me free, and it allows me to get a sense of me losing myself in the painting. I use oil paint like watercolour, fluid and fast with a variety of mixed media on the wooden board. I am interested in re-creating chemical reactions and interesting textures by applying different mediums and thinners with oil paint, oil pastels and spray paint to create captivating effects. It builds up organic marks that seem to correspond as a symbolic connection between the nostalgia and the actual true image.
Polaroid photography helps me to gather material sources that make me see different elements each time I visit. As Paul Nash said, he turned to landscape not for the landscape's sake, but for the things behind. Through landscape painting I recovered a sense of myself and memories that I am hoping to retain.
