It is not every day that you have the opportunity to witness the birth of the creative process. In May Maria Marshall opened her show, "you don't matter to me at all: adventures in isolation and egotism" at Gallery Visio, with a live art installation. During the course of the evening, she flitted around the gallery adding ever-expansive scenes and details to her charcoal drawings on the walls, all while engaging in conversation with the audience. The energy was palpable and it seemed to feed her imagination. A graduate of the BFA program at Webster University, Maria is heading to New York to further her artistic career.
SC: Tell me about your BFA program. Why did you choose to pursue studio art at Webster University? What was your major? Minor?
MM: I wanted to go to a school where the professors were excited about their work and about their students. After attending two other schools, I decided that Webster’s program was the best fit for me. I enjoyed the freedom of using whatever tools - painting, printing, drawing, video, photography - I needed to complete an idea. I majored in painting, although I do mostly drawings, and I minored in philosophy.
SC: How did your relationship with other artists/classmates influence your early work?
MM: The subject matter for my drawings is usually drawn from my experiences or stories that I hear from others. Whatever I’m reading or watching at the time often influences which images I use and how I arrange them.
SC: When did you begin to develop your own artistic voice/style? Is there a specific artwork that comes to mind?
MM: I feel that these things develop gradually. I don’t know that my style of drawing in itself is particularly significant or interesting, honestly. I think it falls more on the arrangement of the images and creating an atmosphere.
SC: Describe your first exhibition. What was significant about the work (s) you showed?
MM: "Electrosugar Electroshock who were we talking about again?" was my first solo show. It was held at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts in August 2009 the summer after I graduated from college. All of the drawings and collages were directly on the walls. The entire show was temporary. There was also an installation where guests could take pictures of themselves on a bed under a sign: ‘disposable moments, the mundane spectacle’. I had a fantastic time and I think the freedom to take over an entire room was significant. Every so often it helps to stretch the boundaries of what you think you’re capable of accomplishing.
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| Maria Marshall, disposable moments, the mundane spectacle, 2009, Temporary Installation, Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts |
SC: How has your art evolved since your first exhibition?
MM: During "Electrosugar" I knew I wanted to do a large scale drawing on the wall. The format was there but I wasn’t sure about the content. The current exhibition, "you don't matter to me at all: adventures in isolation and egotism" at Gallery Visio, is more focused and specific. The drawings came from my research into the exact definitions of the words in the title and then what those words have meant over the last several decades to the public.
SC: Tell me about your inspiration for the Gallery Visio show. How did you come up with the title for the exhibition?
MM: The first half, "you don’t matter to me at all," is a running joke among my coworkers. The majority of the patrons where I work were being jerks one day and we suggested getting tee shirts made with that phrase printed on them. Although the title started out as a joke, I began to see that it had broader applications. The second half, "adventures in isolation and egotism," was added on later to expand and ground the phrase in our current social structure.
SC: Explain your artistic process. Do you work from an intuitive level or are your drawings planned out in advance? How does the audience influence the outcome of the work?
MM: Taking parts from what’s around me, I reorganize them so that they make sense to me and are hopefully interesting to others. In general, I spend about 10 minutes drawing and a half hour of staring at what I’ve done to decide the next course of action. For "you don’t matter to me at all," I planned the main parts, the anchors in a sense, and then expanded on them during the show. The audience helped me to not over think and to draw more fluidly.
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| Maria Marshall, Wall Drawing from "you don't matter to me at all: adventures in isolation and egotism, 2011, Gallery Visio |
SC: What do you hope visitors will take away from the exhibit?
MM: In spite of, or perhaps due to our increasingly public lives, we are becoming more isolated. Many people are more excited about attending an event and making it public, rather than experiencing it fully at the time, i.e., constantly taking pictures for the sole purpose of posting them online. During the opening the viewer witnesses an installation that draws attention to the temporary. The subject matter is drawn from man's timeless fascination with himself and the repercussions of detachment and isolation.
"you don’t matter to me at all: adventures in isolation and egotism”
is on view until August 11, 2011 at Gallery Visio.
About the Gallery
The Gallery Visio Student Association founded Gallery Visio in 2001 as an alternative art venue to showcase the talents of University of Missouri-St. Louis' students, faculty, staff and alumni. Gallery Visio, which is a student-run gallery, is committed to exhibiting the work of emerging artists for the purpose of visual enjoyment and education.
General Information: Gallery Visio, 170 Millennium Student Center, One University Blvd., St. Louis, MO, 63121.Phone: 314-516-7922,
Free and open to the public.
Summer Hours: Monday – Wednesday 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Stimulating interview, well done Susan and Maria. Susan asked just the right questions to evoke very insightful answers from Maria which then bridged the gaps between content and intent.
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