Marcus Pierce

I make paintings that are, at their core, a way of thinking. My starting point is almost never an image; it’s an idea, usually pulled from cognitive science, complexity theory, mathematics, music, or physics. I’m drawn to these fields because they all wrestle with the same underlying question I do: how does meaning emerge from parts? How do simple elements combine into something that behaves like more than their sum?

For me, subject matter is a tool, not a destination. I choose what a painting is of (an object, a figure, a composition) based on what best serves what the painting is about. This is why I no longer separate my “formalist” work from my “conceptual” work. For years I only showed my figurative pieces publicly, while my sketchbooks were full of abstract color and compositional studies I treated as private exercises. I’ve come to believe that split was false. A painting exploring Gestalt principles through pure form is doing the same kind of thinking as a painting built around a specific idea from consciousness studies: both are investigations into how combination creates meaning.

Curiosity isn’t just a subject I return to; it’s a methodology. I study how curiosity is triggered, psychologically, and I build that into the...

Boise State University Studio Art Painting Emphasis

Greenpoint Open Studios 2026
Streaming Evolution Yashar Gallery 2025