Maria Nordman is recognized as one of the most visionary artists to emerge from the California art scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Her practice anticipates the strategies of artists who emerged in the 1990s, defined by a focus on direct experience and the assignment of a "co-authorial role" to the visitor.
Nordman's work relies on the interplay of chance, time, and place to generate unique experiences where the traditional distinctions between viewer and producer begin to meld. Within the gallery’s sustained engagement with Minimal and Conceptual art, Nordman’s first solo exhibition at Konrad Fischer Galerie in 1977 positioned her as a key figure connecting the pioneering generation of the late 1960s with later developments in installation and experiential practice. By allowing participants to construct their own narratives, she emphasizes the immediacy of the encounter. This rigorous commitment to the present moment is underscored by her refusal to produce exhibition catalogues between 1967 and 1987, favoring instead what she termed a "living catalogue held in personal memory."
Nordman's solo exhibitions are often accompanied by specific projects situated within the city. Her major institutional presentations include the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (2014), SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst in Ghent (2013), and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2011–12). Other significant venues include MAMCO in Geneva (2009), UNESCO Zeche Zollverein in Essen (2009), the Serralves Foundation in Porto (2007), and a project at the Dia Art Foundation and Central Park, New York (1990–91).
Her historical significance is highlighted by her participation in three consecutive iterations of documenta (1977, 1982, 1987) and her inclusion twice in Skulptur Projekte Münster (1987, 1997). More recently, her work was featured in the Momentum 11 Biennale in Norway (2021). In 2015, three of her Standing Pictures & The Whisper were included in Event Sculpture at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds. Recent group exhibitions have taken place at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto (2015); Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva (2015); and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2011, 2012).
Nordman currently lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.