Who Painted This?

Marietta Leis | August 1, 2012 - 7:00 am

Surprisingly, I did this painting in 1983! Not like my reductive work of the last decade plus, eh? It’s a 72” x 52” oil on canvas painting from a series entitled Mosaics. That group of complex work used fragmented compositions of flora and architecture as metaphors for man and nature.

Mosaic XIV came back into my world vision when someone in Ohio emailed me that she had been given it by an Ohio company for work rendered and wanted some information about me and the painting’s origins.

My inventory system provided the details of where the work was made, when it was finished, where it was shown, the consultant who had sold it to the Ohio company, and the sales price at that time. I also dug up a postcard announcement of the painting that advertised an exhibit of the Mosaics in Chicago.

It’s obvious that my work has changed in appearance although my concerns are still color and the natural world and I use architectural formats. I’ve kept a few pieces from this series for myself but seeing and enjoying this painting again makes me want to let the others out into the world. It is a special feeling to see my older work and appreciate it. “Well done, good work”, I say but it is like saying it about someone other than myself—a younger person in a different time and place. A chapter of my life that in part I’ve left behind but one that had work I can admire.

GREEN to Exhibit in Idaho Falls

Marietta Leis | July 1, 2012 - 7:00 am

My multimedia exhibit, GREEN: a paradox of abundance and scarcity, will be one part of a two person exhibition at Carr Gallery at Willard Arts Center (Colonial Theater), Idaho Falls. The entire exhibit in the 2000 sf gallery is entitled, Environmental Considerations: New Works by Marietta Patricia Leis and Omar Sarabia, and is being presented by The Idaho Falls Arts Council. The exhibit opens July 14-September 1 with a reception Thursday August 2 starting at 5pm.

The Curator of Exhibitions, Nathan Barnes, selected the two artists represented because they are inspired by specific environments, “The paintings, photographs and sculptures found in Leis’ multimedia installation, Green: a paradox of abundance and scarcity, were developed in response to the flora and fauna she encountered during her artist residency in Northern Thailand. In contrast, Sarabia’s non-objective paintings are developed as a response to his daily surroundings, both domestic and natural, in Pocatello, Idaho.”

More of my work can be found at www.mariettaleis.com and examples of the GREEN exhibit can be seen on this website at >portfolio>green.

CROSSING ART, NY EXHIBITION

Marietta Leis | June 1, 2012 - 4:25 pm

Thirty-two multimedia works from my exhibit, GREEN: a paradox of abundance and scarcity will be shown in the exhibition, Going Green II at Crossing Art. Crossing Art will be showing seven artists in this exhibit June 16^th– August 16^th at their wonderful gallery space in Queens, NY. My work will include monochromatic paintings, poetry texts plates, a video, and hollow, pseudo-food beeswax sculptures that convey the paradox of an unequal world. I will be attending the opening reception 3-6 pm on the 16^th.

Insights 1-3, oil/wood, 5 x 5 x 3″, Vapors, Latex on Acrylic Shelf, 3.5 x 4 x 4″

Going Green II is an annual exhibition that supports not only an eco-friendly environment but raises issues about the current trends and future fate of urban landscapes. I’m very excited to be part of this year’s, Going Green II, the second annual group exhibition of local and international artists, will be on view at Crossing Art in conjunction with this year’s QAX. The Queens Art Express is a spring arts festival of performance, events, exhibitions, and great places to eat in the vibrant cultural communities of Queens NY — along the route of the No. 7 train and beyond.

fighters club mmo

Dave Hickey Chooses “Breathless”

Marietta Leis | April 9, 2012 - 12:13 pm

Breathless, a series of 5 reductive oil paintings have been selected by Dave Hickey, renowned art critic, to be included in the exhibit, Texas National 2012. The exhibit dates are April 14th-May 26^th. Breathless, is from Leis’ ongoing Blue Series inspired from water, sky and ‘blue’ feelings of both sadness and peace.

The Ledbetter Gallery at The Cole Art Center@The Old Opera House in Nacogdoches, TX will be the venue. This is a group exhibit representing artists from around the USA. It has been organized in conjunction with School of Art in the College of Fine Arts at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA), Charlene Rathburn, Director.

My Cyanotypes Included in Group Exhibition

Marietta Leis | March 24, 2012 - 12:00 pm

Lynn Gumpert, Director of the Grey Gallery at NYU has included 2 of my cyanotypes prints in Works on Paper, a group exhibit at the Abercrombie Gallery, McNeese State University, LA, March 29-May 4^th.

: Wellspring 9 & Wellspring 11 both are 24” x 24” x 4.5” framed

Cyanotypes are a magical form of photography. As a child you may have made “sunprints” or “nature prints” by placing objects on photosensitive paper and exposing it to light to produce imagery of white with a cyan blue background. Think blueprint.

In reading The New York Review of Books, I came upon a reference to an 1843 book, British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, by Anna Atkins, an English botanist who published the first book of botany illustrations with her cyanotypes.

When I embarked on an Artist Residency to the Portuguese Azores Island of Flores (flowers) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, I decided to follow Atkins’ tradition and record my impressions of the wide variety of flowers on Flores making cyanotype photographs.

Poetry Reading at 516 Arts

Marietta Leis | March 20, 2012 - 12:00 pm

I will be reading my poem, Blue, Saturday March 24^th at 516 Arts on Central Ave, ABQ with my reading between 3-3:30. The anthology we are celebrating is from the local poetry group by the same name as the book, Fixed and Free. It is available from Amazon. Many of the terrific local NM poets will be reading from 2-5. Help us celebrate the publication of this incredible book.

Poems flow from my artwork. Text plates of poetry accompanied my Marietta Robusti Tintoretto series, Blue has appeared with my exhibits of Blue paintings and presently 5 text plates are showing with my GREEN exhibition. Which comes first I don’t know. But come they do! I hope you have a chance to experience my poems.

Pixels to Exhibit at b.j. spoke

Marietta Leis | March 1, 2012 - 12:00 pm

Pixels 4 x 4 Squared, was selected by Margot Norton, Curatorial Assistant at the New Museum, NYC for Expo 31, a group exhibition at b.j. spoke gallery in Huntington, NY. This work is an installation of 4 paintings each 5 x 5 x 2.5”, oil on wood.

PIXELS: Black and Blue

by Marietta Patricia Leis

These paintings because of their size and simplicity looked to me as computer imaged pixels and thus their name. I’ve always wanted to call a group of work ‘black and blue’ because of the ambiguity of the title and the possible riskiness it might imply.

As I look out into seas and skies I experience the implied storms, or rough waters or the calm beneath a starry night, or a sunrise after a night of bad dreams. All that and more is hinted at in the tenor that I pick up as I experience the earth’s floor and ceiling.

Then I simplify the image that fills my mind in a quick editing process as I put brush to panel. That process is so automatic to me that I’m often not aware of the translation happening.

The work is a series of comments on delicate notepaper elegantly encouraging the viewer to stop and read further.

Poem Published

Marietta Leis | February 15, 2012 - 7:00 am

blog.Quietness — Quietness/oil/canvas/48” sq.

Such gratifying news to share! An anthology of poetry, Fixed and Free (available at Amazon), has included my poem Blue written for my paintings the Blue Series. The color blue has been a large part of my work since 2001 after an Artist-in-Residence at Crater Lake, OR. Being in such close proximity to the deep blueness of that Lake every day set in motion a dialogue with the color blue for a long time and is still part of my studio and life experience. My work very much focus’ on color contemplating how it impacts our culture. It is a ‘blue and green’ planet that we inhabit.

Poems flow from my artwork. Text plates of poetry accompanied my Marietta Robusti Tintoretto series, Blue has appeared with my exhibits of blue work and presently 5 text plates are showing with my GREEN exhibit. Which comes first I don’t know. But come they do! I hope you have a chance to experience my poems.

GREEN until February 25th

Marietta Leis | February 3, 2012 - 1:45 pm

My multimedia exhibition of Green: a paradox of abundance and scarcity will be exhibiting until February 25 at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, TX. It is so gratifying to see this work exhibited in their beautiful space and to have it seen by their large and enthusiastic audience.

Green is an exhibit inspired by my Artist residency in Thailand. It is made up of several components: five written text plates of poems, 16 Vapors which are beeswax sculptures made as Thai wrapped food but hollow, Seeds which are 27 paintings on paper on wood, and 18 photos. There are also four videos.

While embraced by the abundance of vegetation and food in Thailand I became acutely aware of the paradox—the deprivation in the surrounding countries of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. The inequality of sharing the earth’s bounty seems senseless and immoral to me. Also the abuse of our planet by its human inhabitants endangers all the living things I was witness to.

This paradox produced poignant reflections that are expressed in this work… the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ so to speak. The beauty draws you to contemplate the fragility of the earth’s bounty, and thus it’s people’s, condition.

“GREEN” Exhibits in Fort Worth Now!

Marietta Leis | January 16, 2012 - 4:17 pm

I’m excited to share these photos with you of the inaugural exhibit of GREEN: a paradox of abundance and scarcity. Our experience at the Fort Worth Community Art Center was terrific. The building and grounds were the former Modern Museum and a wonderful setting. It took my husband David and I, with some great help, 3 days to install the art. It’s complex because there are 67 pieces to install mostly in groupings that can’t be choreographed until you’re actually in the space. The result was worth the work, as you will see from the photos.

There are 9 gallery spaces in the Center all having openings the same night as ours so you can imagine we had quite a crowd. The audience was very responsive, studying the work carefully, reading the poetry, looking at the videos and taking in the entire installation while asking questions and reflecting. I believe a lot of the viewers left thinking about the complexity and inequities of ‘abundance and scarcity’.

I want to thank again all the backers that pledged so generously to the Kickstarter.com funding campaign to ‘kick’ off the tour of this exhibit. Remember this exhibit will be showing until February 25^thin case you’re in the neighborhood.

VIEW MORE IMAGES HERE!