On Display: Marisa Purcell
Recently, we had the pleasure of welcoming prominent Australian artist, Marisa Purcell into our Paddington showroom. We've had people passing through daily to admire and experience these illusory voids. Working with paints physical qualities, Marisa thinly layers each colour working instinctively and experimentally to create an ephemeral experience for the viewer.
We sat down with Purcell in our Paddington showroom to discuss all things art and what the future brings:
CB: You’ve become a renowned figure of art in Australia, but where and when did the
journey start for you?
MP: It’s been a slow burn. I've been painting all my life, and when I was a high school art teacher, I would come home from work and sit at my desk and do the painting I wanted to do. On the school holidays I’d bunker down and paint full time. Eventually I couldn’t ignore the pull anymore, and I enrolled in a masters of art administration so I could eventually work in museum education. I was trying to think of meaningful paid work options that could sustain the transition and the uncertainty of becoming an artist. I worked for a long time at the Art Gallery of NSW and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Public Programs. This was such a great education for me as I was continually exposed to great art and had to talk about it constantly. This period helped to shape me, my aesthetic, my artistic impulses, and helped to ground my own work in a context.
CB: Your more recent work has taken the form of minimal colour pallets and tones as seen in your Timbre 22 collection. What do you feel these types of work draw from the viewer?
MP: It's my intention that the viewer takes time with the pictures and forms their own responses to them. It's important that the paintings don’t have a specific meaning to decipher. Rather, the affect of the size and the colour should be enough to illicit a personal response in the viewer - hopefully in the form of them having to move around them to grasp the different viewing angles and how our perception can change according to varying factors.
CB: Can you shed light on what you see as the state of art in Australia and what the future may hold for Australian artists?
MP: Considering there is such a small audience in Australia, I feel like the work we produce shoots beyond our size. Because our art can exist alongside international work, both online and at galleries, it really doesn’t make a difference where someone is from to dictate whether their art is good.
CB: Have you got anything exciting planned for the future that you can share with us?
MP: I’m about to show in New York at the Salon art and design fair at the Armory. I’ve made 3 large red paintings that will show on red felt walls installed by an American gallery.
CB: Your work is now on display in our Paddington showroom, what is it about the Casa Blanco aesthetic that you feel works so well with your style?
MP: I love the confidence of the lines, the paired back aesthetic.
CB: What is your favourite Casa Blanco piece?
MP: The sofas! Especially the Rhythm Sofa in Mojave… such a great colour and form.