Calvin Marcus

For his first solo exhibition in New York, and with the gallery at large, Calvin Marcus presents Green Calvin, an installation of nine paintings that reflect on the introspective, often narcissistic, nature of art production.

In even repetition throughout the gallery, toothed ceramic chickens emerge from their synthetic monochromatic voids. Hung slightly higher than the horizontal center of each painting, the chickens are eternally in place to lock eyes with their maker, Marcus.

In their removal from the private space of the studio, they perform anxiously, nervously, harboring anticipation for the potential uncertainties of the audience. Though each exists as a singular mark of self-portraiture, given their line of production, they are also floating, nondescript participants serving the cyclical confrontation of the viewer.

The ceramic reliefs are disturbances to their standardized containers. They exploit the finish of their background, asserting possession over the pristine, hermetic chasm that baits such animations. In a similar turn of spatial custody, the paintings, all of which are titled Green Calvin, have seized their current space, the gallery, locating stability through the insular act of referring back to oneself, and oneself alone.

Calvin Marcus (b. 1988, San Francisco) live and works in Los Angeles.