Marion Grant

Biography

Marion Grant is a visual artist based in New York City.  She works with digital and alternative media; synthesizing elements of representation, abstraction, western thinking, and eastern consciousness. Grant earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts, and has studied at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts, New York. 

Grant’s work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. Some of the notable venues where her work has been displayed include the Arts Guild of Sonoma (Sonoma, CA), Sidney Mishkin Gallery (New York, NY), and the American Craft Museum (now the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY). In 2009, two of Grant’s artworks, Eclipse at Benares and Thousand Petals, were chosen for inclusion in the Rauschenberg Tribute Exhibition at the Museum of the Gulf Coast (Port Arthur, TX). Her work was selected for inclusion in this exhibition by Susan Davidson, Senior Curator of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, with Thousand Petals receiving a special mention from Davidson. In 2014, Eclipse at Benares, was in a group exhibition called Body Language at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (Santa Ana, CA). In 2019, Jenny Gheith, the Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture at San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art, selected her work to be displayed in the 2019 group exhibition Alchemy 2019 at the Arts Guild of Sonoma (Sonoma, CA).

Grant has received several national awards for her artwork. She earned the Merit Award from The Guild American Crafts Awards in 1987, and her hand-printed, silk-screened artworks received the Grand Prize from the Guild for American Crafts in 1988. Her work has been featured and reviewed in The New York Times, The New York Post, Metropolitan Home, India West, Port Arthur News, and ANTE.Mag. Grant’s artwork is in a number of private and corporate collections, including Pfizer, MobileNet Services, Inc, and Signet Bank.

Artist statement

In my mixed media work, there is a fluidity between representation, abstraction, western thinking, and eastern consciousness. Working with traditional and digital art media, as well as organic materials, I combine disparate elements into harmonious compositions. In my prints, I draw inspiration from ancient and classical themes and embed them into my work to create a connection between the past and present. Within my one of a kind alternative media works, articulated forms are abstracted and made ambiguous through a layering of materials. Throughout all of my bodies of work, the union of forms and content allude to the notion of palimpsest: a layering and obscuring of existing elements that makes room for new visual amalgamations. 

My process is experiential and I look to continually invent new ways to translate and represent recurring themes and archetypal imagery. The methods involved are multifaceted and incorporate an intricate procedure of combining and transforming materials. Layering is the most crucial element in my artistic practice. It acts as a key factor in my artistic expression, whether I am using computer programs to make artwork or creating work traditionally by hand. Layering allows me to combine different elements which may otherwise be disjointed, but when separated and re-arranged, allow a sense of complexity and depth. When finished hopefully this combination of imagery coalesces into a harmonious whole giving the work a new meaning. This is the essence of my work. 

Although my process is complex, I strive for simplicity in the overall effect throughout my work. I approach my artistic practice as a labor of love. I hope to inspire a sense of tranquility and compassion through my work. Ultimately, I seek to leave a positive impact and encourage peace of mind for anyone who encounters my art.

Process Statement

Intuition is the guiding force of my work. Each piece begins with a moment of inspiration and gradually evolves, layer by layer, into a mysterious multimedia art object.

Producing these Alternative Media pieces involves several different stages. I make a digital composition using photography and software, and print it on a unique handcrafted acrylic surface, then add final layers of paint. 

The surfaces, commonly referred to as “skins”, are carefully constructed with many layers of diverse fluid acrylic mediums resulting in transparent, translucent, or metallic surfaces. These skins possess a flexible, raw, unfinished quality that makes them feel organic and alive. They are then treated to become receptive to the printer’s archival inks. Once printing is complete and the surface is thoroughly dry, varnish is applied. The last phase involves additional layers of acrylic gels and hand-painted embellishments of iridescent and transparent paints. Hand painting introduces depth, luminosity, and movement. The final surfaces have a physicality that shimmers, casts light and shadows, providing an appearance that shifts as the viewer moves around the piece.

My labor-intensive process is unpredictable and magical. I never know where I will arrive, but hope viewers will appreciate the meticulous detail, spontaneity, and time invested in each work, while also encountering a fresh perspective on the art form.