by Debbie Labedz
Lorna Marsh combines surrealist and expressionist styles with pop culture references to contemplate the realities of the human condition in her new exhibition, "Surfaces," at Aldo Castillo Gallery. "Surfaces" marks Lorna Marsh's 16th solo exhibition at Aldo Castillo Gallery.
Although the gallery focuses mainly on Latin American emerging and established artists, Marsh's South African roots and formal training at the London Royal Academy of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago bring a strong technique and social consciousness fitting with the rest of Castillo's artists.
With crisp white walls, painted grey cement floors, and meditative
music in the background the gallery creates a serene space to view
Marsh's challenging, abstracted, and often humorous work.
Marsh utilizes a soft color palette of gray, blue, and green in "Boy in
T-Shirt." This mixed media on board work depicts a boy wearing a
t-shirt with what appears to be a goose or a duck on it. Though the
t-shirt and bird are firmly outlined, the boy's face is abstracted to a
ghost-like image. To the right of the figure is a small group of Felix
the Cats--yes that Felix the Cat--running in the opposite direction.
Similarly, Marsh uses the same color palette in "Teach Me." This piece
depicts two more t-shirt clad, featureless boys. There is also a group
of Felix the Cat figures running, while being shot at with arrows
flying in from an unknown source in the background.
Marsh does not stop at Felix the Cat in her cartoon references--she adds
Pluto the dog, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse-faced bumblebees in the mix,
specifically in "Happy Pluto" and "I See Pluto. In both of these mixed
media on board works, Marsh demonstrates a black and white color
palette, a highly surrealist composition, and textured surfaces. The
cartoons remain realistic, however, the rest of both images consist of
abstract landscape elements.
In referencing familiar cartoon images, Marsh takes on a newer project
for her--commenting on American visual culture and human behavior. She
adds a penis to Pluto and places Felix the Cat in a war scene. Marsh
strips these iconic, childhood invoking images of their familiar
purpose. Pluto is no longer a gender ambiguous, playful sidekick of
Mickey Mouse. Felix is no longer a cute, adventurous cat cartoon. They
are now demonstrating human behaviors, such as participating in
conflict, and animal features, such as possessing gender specific
anatomy. There is also something distinctly ironic in the joyous
expressions of the cartoon characters and the soft color palette when
realizing the darker, more serious subject.
The entire show is dedicated to the reflection of the human condition
and American society as a whole. Marsh uses American cartoon characters
as a tool to switch up their roles and present a commentary on human
behaviors. They are pawns in her game of expression. She encourages the
viewer to dig beyond the surface (pun intended) and consider a world
where everything is not as it seems. Marsh is certainly successful in
her vision for the show and her works present a wonderful opportunity
for viewers to explore social context in a humorous, ironic, and witty
manner.
Lorna Marsh's "Surfaces" is definitely work checking out. The show is
on display at Aldo Castillo Gallery in River North and runs through
November 28th.
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