Brice Marden's venture into painting on marble marks a fascinating phase in his illustrious career, blending his minimalist sensibilities with the rich textures and histories embedded within the natural stone. This distinctive body of work, created between 1981 and 1987 on the Greek island of Hydra, showcases Marden's exploratory shift from his earlier monochromatic and minimal compositions to later works that integrate calligraphic elements and vibrant colors.
In the summer of 1981, Marden began to explore the medium of marble, drawing inspiration from the fragments he found in the local quarries of Hydra. This period signifies a pivotal moment in his artistic journey, marrying his enduring engagement with Greek antiquity, evident in his monumental oil and wax paintings, with a new medium that inherently carries historical and natural connotations. Marden's marble works are characterized by their interplay of light and geometric shapes, as well as the incorporation of the marble's natural textures and veins into the compositions. This process, described by Marden as "an accident taking on form," involved painting partial surfaces of the marble with thin, translucent layers of color, defined by soft, serene hues contrasted with black and gray lines. These compositions harmoniously interact with the marble's inherent textural and color variations, some retaining visible pencil traces from initial sketches (Gagosian) (Matthew Marks Gallery).
Marden's integration of marble into his practice did not represent a departure from his thematic explorations but rather an extension of his interest in nature, form, and the essence of painting itself. His work continuously engages with natural themes, sometimes focusing on form in ways that are not directly representational but always reflecting a deep engagement with the natural world. This ethos is vividly captured in his series of marble paintings, which underscore his nuanced understanding of color, surface, and the physicality of the medium (Gagosian).
The transition to marble as a canvas also signifies Marden's evolving exploration of line and form. After producing a series of etchings referencing Chinese ideograms, Marden began incorporating networks of meandering lines over monochromatic backgrounds in his paintings. This shift marked a significant departure from his earlier style, emphasizing the importance of touch, surface, color, and tone, themes that continued to pervade his work on marble (www.wikiart.org).
Published in 2006, "Brice Marden: Paintings on Marble" is the first publication dedicated to this unique series of works, highlighting their critical role in the development of Marden's oeuvre. The publication showcases thirty works that integrate the marble's organic patterns—its rough edges and meandering veins—with Marden's introduction of diagonal lines into his mark-making vocabulary, signaling a pivotal evolution in his approach to painting (Matthew Marks Gallery).
Through these paintings on marble, Marden not only delved into the aesthetic possibilities offered by the medium but also embedded his work within the continuum of art history, drawing on the material's classical associations to enrich the conceptual and visual layers of his art.
