Created By
Maria Marshall
Acrylic on canvas perfomance painting
Curator
Luke Chapman
Most compelling is how Marshall manages to maintain a precarious balance between control and chaos. While certain elements appear spontaneous and fluid, there's an underlying compositional rigor that holds the piece together. The sporadic black marks scattered across the upper portion of the canvas create a subtle counterpoint to the main diagonal thrust, while the occasional flares of orange provide crucial moments of heat within the cool, ethereal palette. This work speaks to the tension between structure and dissolution, between what we can grasp and what slips away – themes that echo throughout Marshall's oeuvre but find particularly poetic expression in this more abstract exploration.
Here Marshall departs from the structured meditation of the 'Blindfold Series' into more gestural territory, presenting us with a work that hovers brilliantly between abstraction and suggested form. The composition unfolds through a delicate choreography of grays and whites, punctuated by electric moments of coral, yellow, and black. What immediately captures our attention is the dramatic diagonal line that bifurcates the canvas – a bold, almost calligraphic stroke that reads simultaneously as a tear, a path, or perhaps a flash of lightning cutting through a misty landscape. This mark creates a powerful sense of movement and tension, drawing the eye across the surface while serving as an anchor for the more ethereal elements surrounding it. The painting's surface reveals Marshall's masterful handling of paint, with areas of thin, dripping washes contrasting against more opaque, gestural marks. These varied applications create a spatial depth that seems to pulse and breathe, suggesting atmospheric conditions or perhaps psychological states. The pale, fog-like ground allows brief glimpses of warmth to emerge, like memories trying to surface through layers of consciousness.
Created By
Maria Marshall
180 x 240 cm | 71 x 94 in
2024
