Mushinsky finds and photographs her images in Central Europe and turns them into paintings in New York, paintings which impose a sense of displacement much as in the works of the great Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi—and which offer a similar reward. Nina Mushinsky shows a remarkable concentration that combines real experience with visual illusion. She is working along the edges of reality by using both modern technology—photography—and traditional painting. Her unearthly grisaille is situated between these two media.

In Mushinsky's work, there is a relationship between technical, impersonal methods and gentle sensitivity. Mushinsky is brilliant in her painting skills, but at the same time she shows human values of ethical dimensions. Mushinsky's paintings might apply to such issues as appropriation of already existing images, hybridization, and the mixing of genres. In photography, the moment is immortalized, with the assumption that it is preserved for eternity. Paintings, however, are not tied to the instant, but are "timeless." The paintings of Nina Mushinsky show both sides of the story.