Artist statement
Artist statement
I am a painter who works also in drawing and digital video. I engage with dynamics of contemporary identity that concern the perception of reality, the filters of associations, affects and memories, personal and impersonal. Continuously in motion, perceptions shape and shift the borders of identity between imagination and observation, the screens between forces outside and inside.
On the one hand, the growing instability of once reliable frameworks of ‘self’ and of the belief in mastery over nature encourages living a curious, temporal and communal self. It allows acknowledging its unknown facets of otherness and difference.
On the other hand, denying the new challenges and the attached anxieties will support defensive forms of identity. They find a safety net in ’the people’ against ‘the stranger’, a resistance to relating that opens up wide for corporate interests.
My works, apart from an initial focus on a subject or notion, are not fully planned. Spontaneity of brushwork takes the work along unknown routes, practicing ‘letting oneself paint’ and editing. Duration and time, becoming and dissolving have shaped the way I paint. By connecting to aspects of historical and modern painting and imagery, I can align my work to a living tradition.
Alchemical Renaissance illuminations, in particular, comment on how imagination shapes perception. Transitions, breakdowns and re-integrations of identity are situated in ambiguous landscapes and natural cycles. These hint at the fragility of identity, at unpredictable dynamics that interconnect transformations in the psychological realm with social and natural worlds.
My practice evolves around the question: how does the notion of an unfolding ‘self’, in time and today, relate to aspects of representation and materiality in painting?
Dr. Marius von Brasch works from and lives in Rookley, Isle of Wight, UK
Education
2012 Completed practice-based PhD Fine Art at Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton) on ‘Distance, however near it may be’: Revisiting ‘Aura’ on the Axis between Painting and Digital Technology within a Deleuzian Framework of ‘Becoming’
2009 MA Fine Art Painting with Distinction at Winchester School of Art
1987/88 Guest Student at Staedelschule Frankfurt am Main in the classes of Prof. Johannes Schreiter and Prof. Thomas Bayrle
Other qualifications
1999 Gestalt Therapist (Dipl) and Practioner of Postural Integration (Dipl), 3 year training at the École de Communication Créative in Strasbourg, France
1989 MA in German Literature, Philosophy and Musicology at J W Goethe University, Frankfurt
Solo exhibitions (since 2007)
2019 Ennui Refigured. (2-person show with Freya Purdue), APT Gallery, Deptford, London
2017 Illumination (2-person show with Howard Hardiman), The West Gallery, Quay Arts, Newport (ACE funded)
2012 Distance however near it may be, The Winchester Gallery, Winchester
2009 Oedipus Diving, The Ropestore Gallery at Quay Arts, Newport, Isle of Wight
2007 Oedipus Diving, Studio for Creative Communication Southsea (self curated)
Group exhibitions (since 2009, selection)
2019 Made in Britain. 82 Painters of the 21st Century. Priseman Seabrook Collection, Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk, Poland
2017 Ex Roma IV, APT Gallery, Deptford, London
2016 Stories/Narrative, The Studio at Rookkley Manor, Isle of Wight
2015 The Drawing Process, The West Gallery at Quay Arts, Isle of Wight
2015 Belief, Depozitory, Isle of Wight
2015 A garden at the foot of every tree, The Studio at Rookley Manor, Isle of Wight
2014 Open Exhibition, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
2013 Friday 13th, Award Holders Exhibition at Gallery British School at Rome, Rome
2012 Visioneca, Experimental Film Festival, Isle of Wight
2012 The Lollipop People, Depozitory, Ryde
2012 Practice-based Projects, The Winchester Gallery, Winchester
2011 Rendition, Chapel Arts Studios, Andover
2011 Drawn, Five Years, London
2011 Feint, The Rag Factory, London
2011 Pre.Sense, Temporary Project Space (empty house), Headington, Oxord
2010 Out & About, Aspex Gallery Portsmouth, film screening in conjunction with the exhibition The Great Outdoors, Portsmouth
2009 Becoming/, Link Gallery at the University of Winchester, Winchester
Awards
2013 Abbey Fellowship Award for Painting – 3 months residency at British School at Rome
2009 Postgraduate Scholarship for PhD (Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton)
Work in Collections
Priseman Seabrook Collection UK
Publications
2019 Made in Britain. 82 Painters of the 21st Century. Priseman Seabrook Collection, Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk, Poland
2017 Illumination Marius von Brasch and Howard Hardiman. Catalogue for The West Gallery, Quay Arts, Isle of Wight
2014 Fine Arts 2013-14. Catalogue of British School at Rome @ The British Academy, London
2013 Affective Constructions – Fragmented Images on the Axis between Painting and the Digital in: Harland, B. (ed.) Behind the Eyes/Making Pictures. Research Group for Artists Publications
2012 ‘Distance, however near it may be’: Revisiting ‘Aura’ on the Axis between Painting and Digital Technology within a Deleuzian Framework of ‘Becoming’. Doctoral thesis for practice-based PhD access http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/346350/
2011 stalemate/escape. Essay for Feint: tackle/wield. Winchester Gallery Press
2009 Digital Economy and Memory. Essay for Research Anthology Winchester School of Art. Winchester Gallery Press
2007 Oedipus Diving. The Magical Forest Press, 2007. 64 page book with introduction and 46 colour plates
Workshops
2016 Drawing/Painting from Within, Summer School at Quay Arts, Newport, IOW
2015/16 Becoming Visible, one-day courses at The Studio at Rookley Manor, IOW
2000-2008 Experiential Painting and The Art Within: one-day, weekend and 3-part workshop as well as monthly workhops throughout with same group at self-founded Studio for Creative Communication in Southsea, Hampshire
1994-2000 Various workshops and one-to-one work on ways of accessing and enhancing creativity via drawing, painting and Gestaltterapy
Curated projects
2016 Stories/Narrative, The Studio at Rookley Manor, IOW
2015 A garden at the foot of every tree, The Studio at Rookley Manor, IOW
2011 l launched susan projects (with Ella Clocksin) with Pre.Sense, curated by susan projects, temporary project space, Headington, Oxford
Work experience
2010 Part Time Lecturer in Fine Art at Winchester School of Art (BA/MA levels)
2000-2007 Founded Studio for Creative Communication in Southsea, Hampshire for art- and psychotherapy related practice and own workshop modules (Experiential Painting and The Art Within) with a studio for own art practice and exhibitions
1998-2004 Active involvement in the management of artist collective ArtSpace Portsmouth
Conferences
2013 Affective Constructions. Paper for symposium Behind the Eyes at North Gallery, Northumbrian University, Newcastle
2011 Flux and Fragment, 4th International Deleuze Studies Conference, Copenhagen
2009 Postgraduate Scholarship for PhD (Winchester School of Art – University of Southampton)
