Play It Your Way, Jazz Painting

Marc creates jazz-like improvisations on canvas. His abstract expressionist paintings vibrate with color, line, and movement, and his signature swirls, splatters, and drips advance and recede in what feels like a game of hide and seek. Marc begins by adding color to raw unstretched canvas he lays on the floor, and by consciously attending to formal elements and allowing intuition to freely assert itself, he adds layer upon layer until the painting's final visual aesthetic, dynamism, and harmony appears. Born, raised, and currently living in Los Angeles, Marc is a self-taught abstract expressionist painter who painted his first abstract works in 1991. A 25-year career as a K-12 classroom teacher, working in Watts, South Central, and the San Fernando Valley, left Marc limited opportunities to pursue his passion for art. Then, in January 2020, he transitioned to painting full time. For 18 months, Marc practiced his art in a garage studio where he further developed his action painting technique and deepened his understanding of the properties and behaviors of acrylic and latex paints. His art education and growth as a painter grew from museum and gallery visits, watching demonstrations by other artists on YouTube and Instagram, reading art articles and biographies of various artists, listening to art podcasts such as The Curator's Salon, The Savvy Painter, and Art Bound, taking in-person and online workshops, and completing a fundamentals of painting course at Otis College. Although Marc remains self-taught, these professional growth opportunities have enabled him to explore new ideas, learn from other artists, and grow his network of professional relationships within the art community. In August 2021, Marc moved to a new studio in the Hawthorne Arts Complex, an artist community with over 100 studios and a diverse group of artists. After 8 months, the owner chose to repurpose the space forcing Marc and the other artists to relocate. Currently, Marc works out of his studio on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles. You can also find Marc's artworks at Artspace Warehouse in Los Angeles.