Biography of Brice Marden
Brice Marden's (born 1938 in Bronxville, NY, USA) work is situated comfortably between Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism, between a preoccupation with surface and color fitted neatly into the confines of the square. A painter and printmaker by trade, Marden’s work hovers between emotional intensity and formal simplicity. In early works he used a combination of oil and wax to achieve thick layering and texture on canvas, combining panels with various color gradients horizontally and vertically. After 1975, he began to take inspiration from Greek landscapes and mythology, which he later expanded into studies of light and color with works such as Thira (1979-80). In the late 1980s, influenced by his growing interest and travels in Thailand, his style took a dramatic turn towards gestural abstraction incorporating calligraphic intricate lines on monochromatic panels—a nod to Asian characters and odes to nature. While a formal departure from his previous works, they still engaged heavily with surface, touch, color and tone—pillars of the artist’s aesthetic.
Brice Marden produced several editions among them Focus I-V (1979), a portfolio of five etchings with aquatint on paper, as well as the After Botticelli series and the Han Shan series (1992). In 1988 Marden became a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2000, Brown University in Rhode Island awarded him an honorary doctor of Fine Arts. He lives and works in different cities in the USA as well as in Greece.
