Marina Savashynskaya Dunbar was born in Minsk, Belarus and moved to the United States when she was 9 years old. Based in Charleston, South Carolina, she studied business and art at Columbus State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art in 2016. Marina’s paintings are nature-based abstractions, composed through harmonious movement, material improvisation and layers of translucent color. The paintings bare resemblance to elements in nature while simultaneously departing from literal representations. Each painting seeks a level of reservation as well as an embrace of the unforeseeable. Her relationship with painting is very physical. In her process she manipulates the surface of each piece, granting the work a sculptural quality. She moves around the painting, positioning herself to direct paint flow from specific angles. The process lends itself to the build-up of layers, capturing traces of time and movement. The practice is both seductive and uncertain. Fluid media is sensitive to its environment; a deep breath, a slight shift of focus, a sound in the distance all impact the process, causing the marks to sway from their predetermined path.