ABOUT HASS MAYA

Hass Maya is a contemporary figurative painter based in Johannesburg, South Africa, whose work explores the relationship between the human figure, nature and the emotional landscapes we carry within us.

 

Her paintings are deeply rooted in observation yet move beyond traditional portraiture and landscape. Through expressive colour, movement and symbolism, Maya brings together human figure and natural elements to explore themes of transformation, freedom, vulnerability and connection.Her figures often appear immersed in or surrounded by nature, creating dreamlike spaces where the boundaries between the human body and the natural world begin to dissolve. Natural elements are a recurring element in her work, a place of movement, reflection, renewal, change and the constant process of becoming.

 

Born and educated in Mexico, Maya holds an Honours Degree in Fine Arts, specialising in painting and etching, from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her artistic and teaching career has taken her across Mexico, Europe and South Africa, where she has worked as an artist and art educator for more than 25 years.

 

Her approach combines strong technical foundations with an intuitive and expressive use of colour. Rather than being confined to a single style, Maya allows each body of work to evolve organically, moving between realism, expressive figuration and more imaginative interpretations of the natural world.Today, her work is based in Johannesburg, where she continues to paint, teach and develop new bodies of work.

 

Her paintings invite the viewer to pause, feel and enter a world where nature and the human experience become one.