In her large-scale oil paintings, Brooklyn-based artist Jay Miriam finds beauty in the mundane. She examines what lies in the ordinary, captivated by the seemingly small moments of life. Miriam’s contemplative practice involves painting from memory, or imagining new worlds from scratch, and through bold mark making and loose brush strokes, creates stories entirely their own. 

Known for her portrayals of nude feminine figures, Miriam’s subjects exude a playful sense of mystery. Often there are elements to her paintings that would physically be impossible in the real world, however; in the composition Miriam plays with the movement of the eye to convince the viewer these moments feel right. The perception of the viewer is as important to the whole of the painting as the painting itself. 

Jay Miriam works with traditional oil techniques, and often paintings take months or up to a year to complete.

Born in New York City (Polish-American, 1990) and raised in Brooklyn, Miriam earned a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. 

Miriam has mounted solo shows in Richter Fine Art, Rome, Italy; Ornis A. Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Half Gallery, New York, New York; and Cudowne Lata, Krakow, Poland. Selected group exhibitions include Richter Fine Art, Rome, Italy; Spurs Gallery, Beijing, China; Seasons Gallery, Los Angeles, California; Gruin Gallery, Los Angeles, California; Half Gallery, New York, New York; The Cooper House Gallery, Dublin, Ireland; Garis and Hahn, New York, New York; among others.