"Behind the Wall" Painting

BIO
Born Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Grew up in Dallas, TX; lives in Austin, TX.

Marilyn Fenn creates non-objective paintings with a focus on color, line, shape, and space. Working in oil, acrylic, encaustic or mixed media, she explores how paint inhabits and defines a surface. The common thread throughout all of Marilyn's work is her unerring sense of color.

Marilyn's work is self-informing: she begins with a basic idea, a color and a brushstroke or two, and then each stroke leads to the next. The process is organic and evolutionary, allowing the work to take on a life of its own. She is as much watching it happen as she is making it happen.

Though non-objective, the work often includes references to things in the real world that interest Marilyn, from the micro to the macro, from DNA and cellular structure to nebulae and the universe, and the various populations therein.

Marilyn has exhibited her work in juried and invitational local and national exhibitions, and is collected in private collections across the country and abroad. She is a member of several art organizations, including Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin Museum of Art, The Blanton Museum of Art, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Alumni Association.

STATEMENT
My work is about the joy of seeing the beauty of shapes in paint. It ranges from total abstraction to images drawn from the world around us.

Some of new work is inspired by patterns at different scales in the natural world - from molecules to ice sheets to nebulae. Another recent direction explored images of energy unleashed, such as tornadoes and nuclear bombs. Other works are inspired by a shape, a color combination or a concept, and then I just follow the brushes and see where they lead.

I currently work in oil, acrylic, encaustic, watercolor media, ink and mixed media. The choice of media allows me to delve into different methods of working with the materials to explore a myriad of possibilities for creating beauty out of various shapes and patches of color.

With all my work, I like to challenge the viewer to see the beauty that's right before their eyes -- the colors and shapes of paint.