Artist Statement
Merrie Okie creates lush, symbol-rich paintings that merge portraiture, folk art, magical realism, and contemporary pop sensibility into vibrant visual narratives.
Through saturated color, layered mixed media, and recurring imagery, peacocks, hummingbirds, florals, masks, oceans, and powerful feminine figures, she transforms personal experience, memory, and emotion into dreamlike worlds of beauty, resilience, and self-invention.
Inspired by nature, world cultures, environmental themes, and the human experience, her work invites viewers to slow down, discover the layers, and find their own story within the canvas.
Artist Bio
Merrie Okie earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California, where she studied painting, photography, and sculpture. Early in her career, USC purchased one of her paintings for display in the Doheny Library, an early affirmation of the dynamic and distinctive visual language she continues to develop today.
Her work has been collected internationally and exhibited in galleries across Santa Monica, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Aspen, Santa Fe, Paris, Sydney, and Bali.
Merrie Okie’s paintings are lush, maximalist compositions, wildly colorful, densely layered, and rich with symbolism. Merrie describes her process as “a conversation in color and shape.” Working across acrylic, watercolor, oil pastel, and mixed media, she builds each piece through layering, scraping, drawing, and allowing the painting itself to guide its evolution.
Her work exists where handmade folk traditions meet contemporary pop expressionism, vivid and deeply personal. While distinctly her own, her style reflects an intuitive, imaginative approach to form, color, and storytelling.
Her career includes public mural commissions with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Seymour Knox of the Albright Knox museum private collection, art direction in independent film, international exhibitions, gallery ownership, and philanthropic work as an Art Ambassador for WILDCOAST, supporting ocean conservation.
For over two decades, Merrie Okie has lived on California’s Central Coast with her husband and two sons. She continues to create from her studio, working closely with collectors and on commissioned pieces. Merrie is looking forward to an upcoming trip to Milan, Lake Como, and Mallorca, and is excited to see how new experiences will inspire her next paintings.
Through radiant color, symbolic layering, and impactful imagery, Merrie Okie creates paintings that invite viewers not just to look but to stay, explore, and connect.