| review |
| Floating rectangles of pure color are the essence of Winston Marshall’s latest series of paintings. Marshall has gradually evolved from figurative work to a pared down, minimalist style that was favored by the California artists well known for their geometric abstraction including John McLaughlin, Helen Lundeberg and Karl Benjamin. However, Marshall’s surfaces are subtly variegated and textured in contrast to the hard edges of the earlier abstractions. He also is in debt to Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler for their luminous washes of color, although he transforms these layers through his manipulation of the paint surface. To create his refined surfaces, Marshall applies his colors to finely sanded gesso panels. He thins his oils and treats them like glazes and builds up thin layers of color so the rectangles overlap and leave a delicate trail of rainbow colored hues. He squeegees each layer of oil, then brushes and hand rubs it. After 10 to 20 layers, Marshall says “the only real color is the pigment itself which is almost devoid of oil.” The thin layers are wed together in wavering lines that resemble wood grain. Switching from figurative to abstraction on and off since the 1960s, Marshall gradually pared down his images in these current color field paintings. He worked through two grounds on the painting, at first creating small wood veneer structures placed on top of the painted surfaces, which became an internal structure on the more external ground of the painting. Gradually this architectural component broke down, and the surface became more of a matter of textures and colors that dissolved into one another. His bright clear colors form a luminous surface that makes the rectangles hover and float on the surface. Within each rectangle the color values change and shimmer and cause the surface to waver, giving the painted ground infinite variety. Marshall thinks of his multi-hued surfaces in an archaeological sense, for color trails show the various layers of oil glazes and the subtle wake of his touch. Layer upon layer of pigment melts together to create illuminated colors, and the overlapping of the edges only adds to the interest. The weightless surfaces of his paintings hover and merge, and have an infinitely changing spatial orientation. The vivid color contrasts also vibrate and cause the eye to continually adjust. By creating these poetic, glowing spaces, Marshall allows the viewer to become immersed in color and light. Kathy Zimmerer |
| exhibitions |
2005 Spring Group Show 2003 "Twigs Exposed" 2002 Two Man Show Faculty Show, CSU Dominguez Hills, CA Faculty Show El Camino College, Torrance CA 2000 Show III; Malaga Cove Library Gallery, 1999 "Show II", Malaga Cove Library Gallery, "Men and Women," Articulture Gallery, 1998 "Off the Hill" Malaga Cove Library Gallery, "Diversity Through Divergence," 1997 Group Show, Gallery by the Sea, San Pedro, CA Mirror Street Sculptures "First Night," 1995 "One Night Stand," Community Center, One Man Show 1994 1993 Faculty Fall Show 1993, CSU Dominguez Hills 1988 West Palm Beach Art Museum Spring Show, 1961 Virginia Art Museum Spring Show, |
| education |
| Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA 1961 CSU Dominguez Hills, MA 1989 |