Created By
Maria Marshall
Acrylic on canvas perfomance painting
Curator
Luke Chapman
What's particularly striking about this piece is how the lighting interacts with the holes, creating halos of orange-gold that seem to float above the darker background. This interplay between light and shadow adds a temporal dimension to the work, suggesting both decay and illumination. The scratched surface catches light in unpredictable ways, creating a dynamic viewing experience that changes as one moves around the piece. Marshall continues their investigation of restricted vision, but here the work seems to speak more directly to the relationship between darkness and light, absence and presence. The regular pattern of holes provides structure to what otherwise might appear as chaos, much like stars provide navigation through darkness. This tension between order and disorder, between the mechanical precision of the holes and the organic nature of the surface treatment, creates a compelling dialogue about how we make sense of what we cannot fully see.
In this companion piece from Marshall's 'Blindfold Series,' we encounter a more atmospheric and mysteriously charged iteration of the artist's exploration of perception. The surface here shifts dramatically between deep burgundy and amber tones, creating an almost volcanic or cosmic visual field that seems to smolder from within. The perforations in this work take on a different character than its vermillion counterpart. Here, they appear more like burning embers or distant stars puncturing through a dark expanse. The scratched and textured surface, bearing marks of deliberate weathering and wear, creates a palimpsest of sorts – a recording of time and trauma etched into the material itself.
Created By
Maria Marshall
100 x 120 cm | 39 x 47 in
2024
