Shrouds. To some, they may cause chills of uneasiness and dread. But, for an artist they may be more likely to generate curiosity and inspiration. For an artist a shroud might be used as a metaphor, a suggestion of a portrait, a hint of a presence, or simply a shape that catches the artist’s eye. Sylvia Marcin’s shrouds are organic and earthy, created with strokes of liquid color that somehow find form and structure out of a watery vagueness. They seem in the process of emerging, materializing before our eyes, but remain elusive, captured by the artist just before their shape can be fully recognized. Ultimately, Marcin’s “shrouds” are about drawing and her exploration of shapes, marks, strokes, and color.
The artists writes: “Shrouds: As artists work in their private studios the outside world seeps in.
“Mayhem, destruction, and the resulting bodies; there were pictures of shrouded forms that I found to be compelling images.
“Most shrouds are white, or dirtied white, but I made some a rosy clay color. I did not get the shrouds wrong in this sense, blood can start to become iron red, and the body goes back to clay. The Forms in these images are created from organic shapes: Torsos, Rock Faces, Crevasses, Caves, Vessels, Heart, Lungs, and Wombs.
“These Forms are not about death, but about physicality, not about using human figures, yet this work is figurative.
“Interest in line continues; also shape that is a certain size- a size that holds the ‘painterliness’. The layering of paint on paint, ink on ink, most are laid on tinted or painted paper.
“Color has become more important than in past work, I am looking for color that has a physical element: Clay, Rose, Red Madder, Terra Cotta, Flesh, Vermillion, Porphyry, and Ox Blood, punched with Cyans, Creams, Purples, or Greens.
“After working on these art pieces I have learned that paint as matter has a sensuality and sensibility to it.”
