marin abell
Lecture, Virginia Commonwealth University
November 22, 2010
I will be giving a lecture entitled “Cultivate Joy” at Virginia Commonwealth University’s
Craft/Materials study department, Room 239, 1000 W Broad Street, Richmond, VA.
January 1 - April 30, 2011
This winter semester I am teaching a conceptual studio course called “Concept, Form, &
Context: Being Human” in the School of Art & Design. Students explore their own
experience of being a 21st Century human as a means of generating, clarifying and
investigating issues and developing creative response.
Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art
February - March, 2011
Two of my pieces have been selected the New Waves 2011 exhibition. Come see a new
iteration of “Mattress Pew” and “Self Portrait With Horse Stable” (part of a new body of
photographic work).
Preview, Motion Capture: Mapping a Mouth
May - June, 2012
Lecture, Ohio University Sculpture & Expanded Practice Dept.
June 6, 2012 11:30 a.m.
I have been invited by Ohio University’s Sculpture & Expanded Practice Dept. to present my
work at 528 Seigfred Hall.
University of Alabama in Huntsville
August 15, 2011 - July 31, 2012.
I am a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama’s Department of Art & Art
History teaching undergraduate courses in sculpture for both majors and non-majors. This
fall semester I will teach 3 courses: Intro to Sculpture, Intermediate & Advanced Assemblage,
and Installation & Environmental.
June 07 - August 08, 2011.
I have been awarded a Blue Sky Project residency for my project “The Exquisite Corpse
Wigs”. This program is co-sponsored by the University of Dayton, and will culminate with an
exhibition, location TBA. Look for us on the streets of Dayton, OH!
Motion Capture, University of Michigan 3D Lab
May - November, 2011.
June 2011 - June 2012.
October 6 - November 6, 2011
Jane A. Black, Associate Director of the Dayton Art Institute
August 30, 2011
October 2011 - 2012
My work at Sculpture Space is published at JUICYHEADS for their celebration of Sculpture Space’s 35th anniversary.
challenges ideas about what we know
about ourselves and the world. We cover current trends in art and music, we
offer levity with our comic artists, we follow fiction writers wherever they take us,
and we dance with the spirited and rebellious.
Sculpture Space CHAIR-ity Auction
Saturday, October 1, 2011
January - November, 2012
December 2011
Artist and writer Christopher K. Ho mentions me in his essay Fiction: Laocoon Strikes Back published by the Cranbrook Art Museum for the
No Object is an Island exhibit about the current narrative impulse and fictional drift in contemporary work. Chris says:
...the ‘fiction of the beholder’s nonexistence’ manifests itself as a mild disregard
for accessibility; the production of their multicomponent works often involves
mastering specific skills and acquiring specialized knowledge, commensurately
making reception a challenge. (In this way, fiction may be an antidote to a
conceptual art frequently reduced to a series of legible, single-note gestures.
January - February 2012
Lecture, University of Alabama Birmingham
March 1, 2012
Help us make Tarp Lake a reality
Fall, 2012
Solo Exhibit, COOP Gallery in Nashville
September 2012
UAH Sculpture Installation/Environmental
April 27 - 29, 2012
The Art Lot, Brooklyn, Group Exhibit
July - September 2012
February 2, 2012
Nandini Makrandi, Art of the State
January, 2012
News Archives
1
Nandini Makrandi, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Hunter Museum of American Art, writes, “Through both photography and sculpture, artists Marin Abell and Karen Graffeo consider the long established device of portraiture in a new light,” in her juror’s statement for the 2012 Art of the State exhibition.
In her article “New media art - White Hot Gold at Murray State”, juror Roberta Fallon writes,
“...both artists keep trying even though their tasks are unwinnable. Marin Abell’s playful video
has a similar quirky and forlorn appeal in a work that could be a parody of a survival tv show
for machines.” I love the way she has described the radio zipline.
I am so excited to be a part of this group exhibit at The Art Lot, Brooklyn, curated by Natalia
Zubko and Aimee Burg. It looks like all the participants focus in sculpture/performance/
installation, and I think it’s going to be delightfully wacky! The lot is located on the South West
corner of 206 Columbia St at Sackett St (just north of Red Hook). More Soon!
Heidi Bender, Dan Kauffman, and I are working on a massive installation creating an artificial lake landscape with acres of used tarps. The lake will provide a surreal experience for audiences who get to wade into the lakebed, rest under the rolling blue tarps, and listen to audio interviews from the comfort of beach chairs. The project will not only provide a unique experience for audiences, but will address the relationship between built and natural landscapes. If you would like to participate, we would love it if you’d send us your old tarp
along with some information about how it was used. Please visit our project website for more information: tarplake.wordpress.com
I will be having a solo exhibit at the COOP Gallery in Nashville, located at 75 Arcade.
Please stay tuned for more information!
John Powers of the UAB Sculpture Dept. has invited me to present my work and meet with the sculpture students. I can’t wait to see what they’re up to, and finally meet the man behind the piece “Remember” that I saw years ago and love so much!
The University of Alabama Huntsville’s Sculpture Installation/Environmental students will
be presenting their work at the 30th annual Panoply Arts Festival, sponsored by the Arts
Council, Inc. The festival takes place on the grounds of the Huntsville Museum of Art, and is
sponsored by Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
My “Radio Zipline” piece has been accepted by juror Roberta Fallon into the White Hot Gold juried exhibition at the Clara M. Eagle Gallery at Murray State University from Jan. 27 - Feb. 12, 2012. The exhibit will feature work that explores the role of New Media in Performance, Photography, Installation, & video.
Two of my works have been selected by juror Nandini Makrandi for inclusion in the 2012 Art
of the State exhibition, which includes a catalogue and will travel to the following Alabama
venues: Jan. 22 - Mar. 2, 2012, Tennessee Valley Museum of Art, Tuscumbia, AL
Mar. 15 - May 23, 2012, Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts, Gadsen, AL
Jun. 5 - Jul. 27, 2012, Johnson Center for the Arts, Troy, AL
Aug. 15 - Oct. 31, Fayette Art Museum, Fayette, AL
Howard Hurst reviews my work in his article Art That Requires More Time for
HYPERALLERGIC on my group exhibit “Step & Repeat” at Toomer Labzda Gallery in New
York City!
A set of my Becoming Piano is available at this auction, and is much cheaper than the Christo and Jeanne Claude :) CHAIRity is Sculpture Space’s main annual fundraiser. Admission includes live entertainment, an array of hors d’oeuvres donated by local restaurants and entertainment extraordaire. The cost is $35 before the event or $45 at the
door. To make reservations in advance please contact 315-724-8381 or email info@sculpturespace.org.
On a related note, I love a guy who makes wigs (especially ones that look like
enormous hats) and owns the title “Smack Mellon Hot Pick.” That would be
recent visitor Marin Abell, who has been knocking around the residency circuit
since getting his MFA from Ohio University. He was in town this summer for
another round of the eight-week Blue Sky Project, which invites artists and
Dayton-area teens to create new works of contemporary art.
Marin took over a storefront facing Courthouse Square and created “The Rat’s
Nest,” an exuberant, messy installation that must have been a blast for the kids
to work on. It was a great contrast to the other piece that I found the most
intriguing - the controlled, cerebral repetitions of Suzannah Mira and crew,
shown in a storefront on Main Street.
So, whether your tastes run to simple wool caps or tinfoil triangles to keep the
aliens from reading your thoughts, I suggest you bring a little extra style to your
next stroll, and put on a hat to go looking about.
Jane A. Black, Associate Director of the Dayton Art Institute
Black, Jane A. “Keeping Your Head Warm is Just a Bonus.” Dayton City Paper
30 Aug. 2011 <http://www.daytoncitypaper.com/identity-accessories/>
My piece Radio Zipline is in the exhibit step & repeat: marin abell, ivin ballen, alisa
baremboym & leah dixon at the Toomer Labzda gallery in New York City! I’ve included
some fresh footage- moments where I’ve attached the camera to the zipline.
Toomer Labzda is a contemporary art gallery founded in 2011 by Helen Toomer Labzda
and Christopher Labzda, who are committed to discovering & exhibiting emerging artists.
The gallery is located at 100a Forsyth Street, New York, NY 10002.
Please join us for the opening, time/date tba
Here is a preview a project I’m working on with Mathew Schwartz and the University of
I have been working with the University of Michigan’s 3D Lab on a project in which I am motion-capturing the process of carving a marble sculpture. I will then use my collected data to create a sculpture of my process, and the original object that I was carving will become a void in this new form.
I have been awarded a Smack Mellon Hot Pick! The top artists, as selected from the Studio Program applicants by a panel of esteemed curators, arts professionals, and established artists, are featured on the Smack Mellon website for one year.
The panelists this year were: Janet Bigs, Artist; Heather Darcy Bhandari, Director, Mixed Greens Gallery; and Kathleen Gilrain, Executive Director, Smack Mellon.
