Enjoy the ethereal and fragile beauty in artist Marlene Struss’ abstract paintings. Visit her website to view more of her portfolio.
“Desert Night” acrylic on wood panel, 36″ x 36″
I’ve always wanted to be an artist as long as I can remember. Every birthday when I blew out the candles, that was my wish. Perhaps my child’s instinct knew that it would be difficult. Or was it the fact that I always heard from adults “You can’t make a living from art”?
“Euphoria” acrylic on wood panel, 40″ x 30″
It has been a huge challenge to support my soul in the studio all these years and myself as well. But I am pleased today to find myself closer than ever before to my goal of being an accomplished full-time artist.
“Temple of Tumult” acrylic on wood panel, 36″ x 48″
After working with a succession of mediums and styles, both realistic and abstract, it looks like acrylic painting, what I call biomorphic abstract expressionism with an Asian influence, will be the enduring product of my creativity. I cannot imagine ever getting tired of experimenting with paint and its limitless possibilities.
“Birdseye” acrylic on wood panel, 36″ x 36″
I don’t want to say the paintings paint themselves, but in a way they do. Paint itself produces the organic and geological looking imagery that has become my trademark by interacting with all the substances, unusual tools, and materials I introduce it to. My role in the collaboration is more of a scientific aesthetic coordinator who gets to decide the colors that will network, the various steps in the process, and their layered order.
“Thawing Earth” acrylic on wood panel, 48″ x 36″
It is hard to express the surprise and satisfaction of throwing some handsome purplish-brown paint down over lovely pinks, blues and oranges, covering it with a plastic shower curtain, waiting, wiping the wet parts away, and rubbing the panel to a satin patina to discover intricate drawings and patterns of nature’s design. Imagery so real it would be impossible to duplicate.
“Atavistic Valley” acrylic on wood panel, 40″ x 30″
At that point I might add a branch or a moon to invite the spectator into the painting, and voila! Another world a person can experience and respond to. I find that being in any natural environment, especially among trees, piques my sensibilities for working in the studio. Listening to Indian, African, Asian, American jazz or other wordless music helps me focus on the rhythms of the painting in process.
“Shattered China” acrylic on wood panel, 40″ x 40″
What are the criteria I’m looking for in my paintings? Movement and mystery on the one hand. At the same time balance and harmony, traditional elements of beauty, which is its own justification. Some people are disappointed if they don’t see objects they can easily recognize in my paintings or that they don’t tell some kind of story or make a statement.
“Reflecting Forest” acrylic on wood panel, 30″ x 40″
I believe in the sensual experience of a work of art that leaves room for the viewer’s imagination and reminiscence. It can make a lasting self-renewing impression that grows and changes with the observer and keeps them both alive!
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