This past Saturday night one of the best painters in America, Marcus Antonius Jansen, had a show opening in the Miami Design District, at 101/Exhibit. The show’s title is "ZEITGEIST" and Marcus has about 25 paintings, large and small, in the exhibition. The show opening broke all attendance records for the artist with over 1,500 people in attendance. The show is running until June 8th in Miami at Gallery 101/Exhibit. Address: 101 NE 40th Street, Miami, Florida 33137. After the show I posed a few questions to Marcus.
As the title of the show implies, Marcus’s paintings reflect the disjointed world we find ourselves in. He paints urban landscapes filled with foreclosures and abandoned buildings torn apart by man-made and natural disasters. The once clearly delineated structures of his earlier works are now breaking down, reflecting our society’s crisis of confidence. What used to work is ineffective, and a new way forward has yet to be imagined. The Artist’s job is not to come up with the answers and Marcus offers no solutions. But what he does do brilliantly is explain where we are in ways that words fail to do. Marcus shines a spotlight on the urban landscape as it really is.
Collectors and museums around the world have responded to the work and are gobbling up Marcus Jansen’s paintings. Marcus has also been busy collecting awards, the latest here in Florida. Marcus was just awarded the Angel of the Arts Award (Visual Artist of the Year) by the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers, Florida. GL
Having never met Marcus before Saturday night, it was a thrill to talk with him at the opening. After the show I even managed to pose a few questions.
GL: Do you go to Museums, what was the last show you saw?
MJ: The last Museum show I went to was Francis Bacon's retrospective at the Tate London in 2008. I love going to shows when I can.
MJ: The last Museum show I went to was Francis Bacon's retrospective at the Tate London in 2008. I love going to shows when I can.
GL: Can you talk briefly about the process of creating one of your paintings?
MJ: My process is very spontaneous once I have a subject matter in mind. I work with risk and gestures, while setting a stage and experimental platform. Art is free, regardless of what limits some people may want to place on it. My job is to explore the unknown, not stick to rules. My process is spiritually driven. The work is generally completed when I feel there is a statement of some sort being made.
GL: Where do you shop for art supplies?
MJ: Pearl Paint. Michi's Arts & Craft.
GL: What time of the day do you paint?
MJ: I usually start my day at 9:00am and end around 6:00pm.
GL: How many hours a week do you spend in the studio?
MJ: I separate my actual painting time from my administrative duties and other. Since they both require a different mindset, I usually don't paint when administrative things need to be done.
MJ: Pearl Paint. Michi's Arts & Craft.
GL: What time of the day do you paint?
MJ: I usually start my day at 9:00am and end around 6:00pm.
GL: How many hours a week do you spend in the studio?
MJ: I separate my actual painting time from my administrative duties and other. Since they both require a different mindset, I usually don't paint when administrative things need to be done.
GL: What music do you listen to when painting?
MJ: Classical music has become common.
MJ: Classical music has become common.
GL: Three things you couldn’t be without while you're painting?
MJ: Brush, paint and spatula.
GL: What was your earliest artistic training?
MJ: My earliest training may have been my graffiti days, spraying on mural walls in the 1980's.
GL: Who is your favorite living artist?
MJ: In terms of painters, I like Jonathan Meese, Georg Baselitz, Neo Rauch and Julie Mehretu's works in particular. But there are many others less known that I like as well.
MJ: Brush, paint and spatula.
GL: What was your earliest artistic training?
MJ: My earliest training may have been my graffiti days, spraying on mural walls in the 1980's.
GL: Who is your favorite living artist?
MJ: In terms of painters, I like Jonathan Meese, Georg Baselitz, Neo Rauch and Julie Mehretu's works in particular. But there are many others less known that I like as well.
GL: Any other artists in your family?
MJ: I believe we are all artists. Some formally recognize it and some don't. As human beings we are born with infinite creative intelligence and in the arts, we explore endless possibilities and perceptions and present them.
GL: What are you working on next?
MJ: Just continue working towards upcoming shows. We have Art Hamptons Fair and Art Basel Miami Beach that will be here before you know it. My current show is ongoing at 101 Exhibit in Miami until June 08. 2010.
GL: Do you collect other artists, what’s your favorite piece?
MJ: Yes. I have a Purvis Young painting for example, that I just bought only weeks before he died. In light of his recent death, I will cherish it. He was an honest painter and painters like that are becoming less and less.
GL: If you could have one painting in the world, you could rip it right off the wall of a museum and take it home with you, which painting would you chose?
MJ: Guernica by Pablo Picasso.
GL: Advice for emerging artists?
MJ: Have no fear, be honest in what you paint. The world needs honesty in these times we live in and each person is important for that reason alone. We are individuals not group thinkers and the arts allows that individualism to shine.
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2 comments:
Marcus Jansen congratulations on your show!!! Your work is grate and I aways enjoy seeing them.
Good Luck!
Kaloust Guedel
Guernica is my favorite also. Have seen it twice and once was reprimanded for standing too close (I was breathing on it) - at MOMA New York. I am just discovering Florida artists and including it in my most recent grad course - Landscape Art and Photography in Florida. Your paintings are shedding more light on my studies, my photography and my painting as well. Thank you!
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