Michael Voss . Hier 2010
oil on canvas 14.5 x 12.8 in
Lael Marshall . Orange Stitched 2009
oil . acrylic and thread on canvas 20 x 18 in
Michael Voss . Predicament 2006
oil on canvas 14.2 x 12.6 in
Lael Marshall . Patch 2008
oil on cotton dishtowel . canvas 18 x 20 in
Michael Voss . CHOQUE 2010
oil on canvas 15.7 x 12.6 in
Lael Marshall . Green Quad 2009
oil and thread on canvas 20 x 18 in
Michael Voss . Notion 2011
oil on canvas 13.2 x 11 in
Lael Marshall . Dishtowel Burrito 2007
oil on cotton dishtowel 18 x 20 in
Michael Voss . portrait 2011
acrylic on canvas 14.2 x 12.2 in
Lael Marshall . Double Dollop.2 2011
cotton, thread on strecher bars 20 x 11 in
Michael Voss . untitled (to John) 2004
oil on canvas 14.2 x 12.2 in
Lael Marshall . Blue Dishtowel 2007
oil on cotton dishtowel 20 x 18 in
Michael Voss . Fenel 2011
oil on canvas 14 x 12.2 in
Lael Marshall . Soap Sculpture 2008
Lael Marshall . Soap Sculpture 2008
Exhibition . this quiet commotion . Sat Sept 3rd - Sat Oct 1st 2011
this quiet commotion . 'Schweigen,' to be quiet is far from the intent of these works by Michael Voss and Lael Marshall, which have left their Brooklyn studios and travelled across the Atlantic to comprise this exhibition.
Here the works consider the space and one another and resonate.
The 'commotion' is an internal one; an excitement, a challenge, or demand on part of the viewer as they experience the work. It can be perceived behind the first seemingly quiet offering, where there waits and lurks the residue of both artists' approach: the push and play of color and form until a conclusion has been found. Beyond this, both artists address the viewer differently with their concretizations.
Michael Voss's oil paintings sit like small objects, poised on the wall, demanding and defending the space around them. Their seemingly simple compositions are based on the notion that simplicity, though desirable, is nothing stable. It is fragile, fleeting, dissolving into complexity in an instant.
Lael Marshall uses ordinary or found materials such as soap or dishtowels and modifies them, de-voids them of their original purpose, and offers them back, luring us with their familiarity, and then holding us captive with her unique vision.
Both artists have received in January, and May, 2011 the title of "Artist-of-the-Month' by BRIC Contemporary Arts, Brooklyn, New York.
© Sylvia von Niederhäusern
