Maya Strauss is an interdisciplinary painter whose work spans painting and sculpture, drawing from images she gathers while wandering New York City. She began working in ceramics as a way to “sketch” and improvise ideas that emerge in her paintings. Focusing on seemingly banal objects - wine bottles, cups, lost luggage, greeting cards - Strauss infuses the familiar with humor and playfulness while revealing its underlying strangeness. Though not strictly utilitarian, her objects operate as a form of sympathetic magic: creating likenesses to attract or ward off certain energies. Each piece becomes an attempt to preserve a fleeting, often overlooked moment of beauty. Influenced by the ceramics community, Strauss is also committed to making accessible, everyday objects that invite people to live with art.