“font-family: Verdana; line-height: 13px;”>Carolyn Miles, owner of Atrium Gallery, hosted a talk by both artists in her new two-man show, New Studio Works: Michael Marshall Mono Prints + John Schwartzkopf Sculptures, on the Saturday morning of the opening weekend. Miles pointed out that she had been showing Marshall – a painter from St. Louis known throughout the world – for 24 of the 25 years her gallery has been open, after courting an initially uninterested artist who was busy with his work in Hilo, Hawaii.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>In his talk, Marshall discussed his recent departure into the mono print process – which he previously had dismissed as “a poor substitute for painting” – after seeing the sculptor Albert Paley’s use of stencils during his residency at the University of Hawaii–Hilo. “It was fresh, necessary and correct,” Marshall said he concluded of these techniques.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Once he set to work making prints himself, Marshall found himself working in marathon, half-day sessions with a small group of students. “I attempt to develop the composition from all directions,” he said. And he does so with any material at hand. Marshall talked at length about discovering a promising new printmaking material in the carpet runner. At one point, he took a pair of nail clippers to snip off the nub of a carpet runner, leaving a hole in the material that then changed the effect of the print he was making.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Thinking about his art in such homely, technical terms made for a fresh look at the mono prints on display at Atrium Gallery. #5 could be a page torn from a child’s picture book about a whale at sea, but what looks like a deliberately formed whale eye actually started as a dot left by that hole Marshall accidentally made in the carpet runner with his nail clippers.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Yet this new work stems from a deeply personal source as well as a collision with new materials and techniques. Marshall spoke of the shock of losing his colleague in the Hilo Art Department, the printmaker Wayne Miyamoto, on Feb. 20, 2010. “The whole department went into a tailspin,” Marshall said. “It really wasn’t clear we were going to survive. It’s a small department, in such a fragile economy.” But he decided the department would survive. “I understood we had to do everything we were doing, and more.” After seeing Paley work, that “more” became this new, inspired mono print project.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>The work itself is varied and stunning. #49 evokes a Cubist portrait of a man smoking a pipe mostly in stark black and white. #47 mashes up European traditions of harlequin paintings with African figural forms in Halloween colors. #59 is a mauve meditation on cantilevered mechanical forms and four-legged animals with long necks. Others – #32, #33 and #34, which look good as a series – seem to partake more of the pure joy of playing with abstracted shapes and contrasting colors.
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>John Schwartzkopf’s talk was a pleasant complement to Marshall’s remarks. The sculptor from Cedar Rapids, Iowa described his process as very akin to the multi-layered, improvisational technique at play in Marshall’s marathon printmaking sessions. “I start and work and evolve as I go,” Schwartzkopf said. His approach to materials, like Marshall’s, is opportunistic and improvisational. He talked about inheriting discarded pieces of wood because “they are twisted, crooked and have a big knot in them.” He smiled and said, “That’s exactly what I’m interested in!”
“font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>New Studio Works: Michael Marshall Mono Prints + John Schwartzkopf Sculptures will be up at the Atrium Gallery, 4728 McPherson Ave, through October 22. Call 314-3671076 or visit
“http://www.atriumgallery.net/” target= “_blank”>www.atriumgallery.net
