Circuitious

MARYLYN DINTENFASS (b. 1943) is a renowned American artist whose vibrant paintings, printmaking, and monumental installations have defined a career spanning over five decades. Influenced by Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, her work is marked by bold gestural strokes, rich color saturation, and a masterful interplay of spontaneity and control. As a woman artist working on a grand scale with striking colors and dynamic forms, Dintenfass is a rare and powerful force in contemporary art.

A defining aspect of her practice is the iconic "Oculus" series, which centers on circular forms with an open center—a fundamental geometric form that recurs throughout her work. This repeated motif serves as a lens through which she explores themes of perception, memory, and movement, creating compositions that feel both energetic and immersive.

Through her distinctive fusion of abstraction, geometry, color, and texture, Dintenfass captures the energy of the natural world while echoing the structured rhythms of contemporary life. Her ability to translate emotion and experience into monumental, immersive works speaks to the breadth and longevity of her career, cementing her as a pioneering artist in contemporary art 

Dintenfass has twice been a MacDowell Fellow and has received both an Individual Artist Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts and two Project Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. She was awarded the Silver Medal at the First International, Mino, Japan, and The Ravenna Prize at the 45th Faenza International in Italy. She has also been inducted into the New York foundation for the art hall of fame. Academic positions have included Visiting Professor at the National College of Art and Design in Bergen and Oslo, Norway; Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, Israel: Sheridan College in Toronto, Canada and Hunter College in New York City. She was, for ten years, a member of the faculty at Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Books on the artist’s work include the monograph Marylyn Dintenfass Paintings written by Lilly Wei and published by Hudson Hills Press (2007), Aliza Edelman’s, Marylyn Dintenfass Parallel Park published by Hard Press Editions (2011) and the hardcover catalogue for the exhibition Marylyn Dintenfass Drop Dead Gorgeous written by Scott Indrisek and published by Driscoll Babcock Galleries (2012). In April of 2023 Dintenfass was honored at The New York Foundation of the Arts and inducted into their Hall of Fame.