Cathryn Lynea is a contemporary Bay Area artist whose work explores identity, self-construction, and transformation through layered abstraction, figuration, and mixed media. Working across acrylic, oil, photography, and collage, she combines color, texture, and material to examine how the self is shaped, concealed, and reclaimed. Drawing from personal history and lived experience, her recent work focuses on self-exploration, body image, and the act of truly seeing oneself. She maintains studios in Sausalito and Oakland.

Lynea’s work often begins intuitively, building layers of abstraction and collage that are later intersected by figurative and naturalistic elements. Through this process, themes of expansiveness and inner strength emerge, reflecting the tension between vulnerability and resilience. Her work invites viewers into a space of reflection, where identity is not fixed but continually evolving.

Finding Self is an ongoing body of work exploring identity, visibility, and self-reclamation. Through painting, photography, and mixed media, the series reflects a personal and psychological journey from fragmentation toward wholeness, examining how external narratives and internal constraints shape the self.