garageartcenter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe dynamism of Marks\u2019 creative process is reflected in the figures she creates. Though static, they exude an energy that makes it seem they could suddenly come to life, perhaps to battle one another. Several, in fact, have vaguely humanoid shapes and militaristic names: \u201cMetal Warrior\u201d and \u201cTwo Samurai\u201d are among the dozen or so that will be on display at the gallery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exhibition celebrates the power of play \u2014 not as escape, but as liberation,\u201d Garage Art Center Director Stephanie S. Lee says in part in her description of the show. Lee adds, \u201cThrough photography and altered perceptions of scale, the sculptures are transfigured: the small becomes monumental, abstraction crystallizes into metaphor, warrior-like figures arise, and casual constructions transform into symbols of power, survival, and strength.\u201d<\/p>\n
The works certainly do show strength, and call to mind several examples of it, from popular fiction to fine modern art.<\/p>\n
Marks herself sees echoes of the kaiju, the Japanese movie monsters epitomized by Godzilla, in some of them.<\/p>\n
When she takes the power of the creative process and turns it into figures, she finds that \u201cthey\u2019re referencing those powerful Japanese monsters.\u201d And, she adds, \u201cThey have energy, they are for good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The viewer might also see in them echoes of the Transformers, especially in their later, less boxy shapes: Think the title character in the 2018 movie \u201cBumblebee.\u201d<\/p>\n
One piece, a figure that makes up half of the work \u201cTwo Samurai,\u201d calls to mind the Ents in the film version of \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d as they withstand the onrush of a river flood. Twigs that arise from the top of the figure appear to be blowing branches, bent by a wuthering wind.<\/p>\n
How did they get incorporated into the work? \u201cI pruned a little cherry tree I have and I looked at the pieces and I\u2019m like wow, those are pretty cool looking,\u201d Marks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo Samurai\u201d and many of her other warrior figures are small, less than 6 inches tall, but that\u2019s where the photography comes in, much as it did with models in films such as the original \u201cGodzilla.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy the ambiguity photography can create, playing balance, perception and scale where a piece 4 inches tall appears monumental,\u201d Marks said. \u201cThe \u2018Two Samurai\u2019 would be a good example.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from science fiction and high fantasy, Marks\u2019 warrior figures also echo a notable work of modern sculpture from more than a century ago, one taught in many an art history class: Umberto Boccioni\u2019s \u201cUnique Forms of Continuity in Space.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1913 Futurist sculpture, later cast in bronze, depicts a striding figure \u201cwho forges ahead as if carved by speed,\u201d as the Museum of Modern Art says in its online entry on the piece. MoMA goes on to link the work to an even more vital masterpiece: \u201cWhile born of Futurist aspirations, it also remains evocative of an ancient statue: the wind-swept, striding Victory of Samothrace in the Mus\u00e9e du Louvre in Paris.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outer power of art, from Samothrace through \u201cTwo Samurai,\u201d is, for Marks, also within: \u201cFor me, making things is a very powerful healer and coping mechanism and I feel like there\u2019s a power in that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sculpting for Donnelly Marks is a fluid thing, a stream of consciousness, a process in which not every…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-246695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}