Whitney Biennial 2019
May 17–Oct 27, 2019
Calvin Marcus
47
Floor 6
Born 1988 in San Francisco, CA
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
The paintings in a new body of work by Calvin Marcus are diverse in their subject matter, but linked to each other formally and through their playful, exploratory sensibility. In works that often confront their audience with bold colors and dark humor, Marcus plays with viewers’ expectations, throwing their perceptions into question. At the same time, the paintings are direct in their approach. “The work has no tricks,” the artist has explained, “it is as people see it and that’s fine.”
No Need Here, 2018–19
Calvin Marcus, No Need Here, 2018–19. Watercolor and vinyl paint on linen, 79 × 101 5/8 in. (200 × 258 cm). Image courtesy the artist; Clearing, New York and Brussels; and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
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Narrator: In these paintings, Calvin Marcus intentionally creates five very distinct narratives, which we’re left to tease out for ourselves.
Calvin Marcus: It's really supposed to be this disjunctive thing where you actually have to interpret each painting as a complete world. And then as you move on to the next one. It's this jarring shift to a completely different place and sentiment, and theme.
It's like this unobtainable desire for every painting to be suggesting a new direction, and instead of actually following each path, it starts and stops with each painting. And then you're forced to deal with another narrative.
The one of the donkeys in the circle at night is called the Conspiracy of Asses. It's about these creatures having an awareness, and a desire to conspire in the middle of the night. The painting is supposed to be this outside observer peering in on this mysterious happening.
The car windshield is like an apocalyptic painting, because of the representation of the red is supposed to be like this world on fire space. But I intentionally painted it in this Ed Ruscha style―I guess Los Angeles-style painting.
The alien flipping the quarter is supposed to be essentially discarding the currency because he has no use for it, in the sense that he's from another planet.