Fine Art

STATEMENT
Light has been the protagonist of painting since artists first put pigment to substrate. It’s the foundation of imagery, whether symbolic or literal, imagined or authentic. I carry on that tradition through observational, representational painting. Light informs so many things—more accurately, everything—we see. Fixating on light allows me to describe form in color temperature, value, saturation, and hue in a way that gives the viewer a sense of place. That’s the underlying goal. To communicate the feeling of a space with which the viewer’s connection is undeniable. The rich hues and luminous qualities that oils provide have been an inevitable, if joyful vehicle for me to express what I see.

BIOGRAPHY
Marc was born and raised in Wisconsin in the Rockwellian town of Wild Rose.
After graduating high school second in his class, he packed up his brushes and attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout, majoring in industrial design. After two years Marc switched majors to focus on illustration. Working largely in pen & ink and watercolor, he found an interest in political, satirical illustration and editorial cartooning. Marc continued on this career path for several years until, almost by accident, he discovered plein air painting. Although he loved the comfort and convenience of his studio, nothing could compete with this newfound passion. Politics was quickly replaced with depictions of the Wisconsin Landscape.
Marc continues to broaden his scope of painting techniques and subject matter and participates in plein air events and art shows across the country.

STATEMENT
I grew up in a house of optical phenomena. My father was a physicist with a specialty in optics (although neighbors claimed he worked at the Optical Department at Sears). Lasers, lenses, prisms, and holographs were plentiful; as were lessons on the natural world. In our house, a solar eclipse became a graduate level seminar. On long car trips, we passed the time with questions to stump Dad: Why was the sky orange, what caused hail, and how were tunnels built under the bay? (Incidentally, we refer to these questions now as "Tunnel Talk" questions).

BIOGRAPHY
I begin my paintings with questions like those of "Tunnel Talk" times. What is the color of amber, iron-ore, pollen? How can wind and water be suggested? The paintings gradually grow in layers. In the strata of paint, the shape of a microscopic protein hovers beneath a planet's elliptical orbit and decorative ironwork cancels out dense foliage. It is these strange alliances between the common and uncommon, natural and synthetic that I find compelling to paint. The compressions, connections, and contradictions of the layers shape the personality of the painting.
This knotted, painted combination forces a continual shift of attention among the many levels. I compare this to a single moment in landscape and the competing levels of activity. When I stand on Devonian limestone on the levee of the Mississippi, the barges and riverboats pass, herons fly, behind, a train noisily rumbles and streetlights flicker on, the smell of diesel fuel drifts in while rain clouds build. It's the density of experience that continues to raise questions and excite me as a painter.

Education
INDIANA UNIVERSITY, Bloomington, IN., M.F.A. - Painting, 1988
TYLER SCHOOL OF ART, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA., B.F.A, Painting,1984 
Professional Experience
ST. AMBROSE UNIVERSITY, Davenport, Iowa, Professor, 1989-present UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, El Paso, Texas, Visiting Professor, 1988-1989