Maren Less
The Black Goat, Acrylic On Linen, 38" x 50"
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. “Much of my work originates in sketchbooks,” Less notes. “I prefer a process that moves intuitively from impulse to hand to paper to canvas, allowing the work to unfold in its own way.”
For Less, painting is both visual and poetic. Each completed work is paired with a poem, offering an additional entry point into her inner world. The texts function less as captions than as reflections, drawing out meaning from the imagery and deepening its resonance.
“The poem relies on the painting, but the painting doesn’t rely on the poem,” she explains. “Maybe that’s the essence of capturing an inner landscape: it’s used to being unseen, and it could slip back into invisibility with almost no effort.”
Dropping Into Midnight, Acrylic On Canvas, 11" x 11"
Recurring motifs such as animals mid-hunt, airplanes in descent, and figures in ambiguous roles surface throughout the exhibition, shifting in scale and meaning. Characters seem to emerge from the subconscious, playing minor roles in scenes without central plots, echoing the nonlinear logic of dreams.
“Even in the writing that accompanies the work, there is no hierarchy, no heroes or villains,” Less says. “They aren't part of one cohesive story, but they carry echoes of many… each character might represent something we all experience: a fear, a hope, a dream, or a role we find ourselves in. Sometimes we’re at the center of that feeling, sometimes we’re far from it. The characters shift like we do, sometimes leading, sometimes fading into the background.”
Through these dynamic and layered compositions, Less creates imaginative spaces that balance chaos and order, density and openness. The result is a body of work that is playful and unsettling, whimsical and profound, and deeply engaged with the dialogue between inner and outer worlds.
A Little Bit of Sun, Acrylic On Canvas, 36" x 36"
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.
