Maureen O'Leary's (b. 1965, Washington, DC) paintings hover between figuration and abstraction. Her mundane scenes become substrates for experimentation with the application of paint and the evolving notion of what is real. O'Leary's work has been exhibited at the Custom House in Westport, Ireland, Fondation des États-Unis, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, Art Lab Tokyo, Midwest Center for Photography, Artspace, Power Plant Gallery at Duke University, Valdosta State University Fine Arts Gallery, Staten Island Museum, Meadows Gallery - University of Texas at Tyler, and more. She is the recipient of the Brooklyn Arts Council - Brooklyn Arts Fund Grant and the Harriet Hale Woolley Fellowship from the Fondation des États-Unis.
O'Leary has published six books: The Linden Trees (2026), ROMA (2024), By The Same Sea, Homes of The Irish Diaspora (2023), Record (2021), Belle Mort (2013, Paper Chase Press) and Look/Listen (2010, Look/Listen Press). Her work has been written about in Galerie Magazine, Hyperallergic, FAD Magazine, Whitehot Magazine, and Hypebeast, among others. O’Leary’s work is held in the collections of the Fondation des États-Unis, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection, and JP Morgan Chase Art Collection. She has studios in Long Island, NY, and Puerto Rico.