“Marlene Kryza is a Newburgh, NY-based artist working in a range of media and includes mark-making reflecting physical stress and durability. The work is playful and complicated, inviting destruction and becoming precious. Her work is often installed architecturally, making use of simple engineering principles. Marlene grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia studying art informally before moving to Colorado and attending undergraduate art school at The Metropolitan State University of Denver, where she studied drafting and metal sculpture. Also in Denver, Marlene began training as a caricature artist, a career that followed her to Boston, and eventually to Brooklyn, New York. Marlene is a published comic artist. In 2009, she became a member of the New York City Ironworkers Local 580 and worked in the construction industry for ten years before her matriculation into Brooklyn College. Marlene has been a member of several Brooklyn-based collectives with whom she traveled and gained exposure to performance and collaboration. She has installed site-specific metal works in Denver, Reno, and New York. She is currently shifting toward the realm of digital graphics and animation.”

Rebecca Redman, 2020
Curator, Smack Mellon