Alan Marcus
“I am French, Argentine born; I was raised in Buenos Aires--where I studied, filmmaking, Fine Arts and music composition. I was deeply influenced by Fluxus and Joseph Beuys, not by the quality of their work, but by their Post-dadaist philosophy. Beuys described the experience of understanding every action--on and outside of the canvas--as an artistic process; he sought to convey this by simply peeling potatoes and cooking for his children. This is how I remember his approach from an interview I saw when I was 21 years old. This profound notion reverberated in me once again through Nietzche's idea of will to power, where life itself could become an aesthetic feat.
I am not mentioning these thoughts haphazardly, they somewhat define an attitude that was already manifesting in my many incursions in the arts. My concern was not in fulfilling a predetermined role as an artist in society but--as Thoreau puts it--to suck the marrow out of life. This attitude allowed me to be unafraid when it came to deconstructing fragile notions of trajectory and consistency, and it is that which allowed me to shift from painting, to music composition, to poetry--seamlessly and repeatedly; searching for an idea of art that is more alive in one's values and choices than it is in the work itself. The work of art is, or might be, a physical trace of that constant moral and philosophical development.
After my studies, I became a mountaineer and worked in Patagonia; short after, I moved Grenoble (France) where I continue to practice climbing, drawing and music composition. Gradually and increasingly, I began to concentrate in drawing, painting and printmaking. I lived in India, Paris, Amsterdam and since 2016 I am residing in England--a constant movement that was a consequence of my aforementioned attitude but that also responded to my constant need to strike a balance between art-making and my other, more earthy, needs. I can only suspect--and not affirm--that all of my concerns, artistic, philosophical and existential are being addressed in my small narrative drawings and etchings. I think this is grand.”
Etching, Edition of 25
Size Framed: 260mm x 290mm