Marina Claire
As a welding, painting, fabricating, and tattooing artist, Marina's work is a constant manipulation of the physical: metal, paint, ink, and bodies. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire her to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect. The objects she makes — always imperfectly embodying perfection — ask viewers to drift within that gap between the non-physical, conceptual realm and our tangible, sensory experience.
Marina is the recipient of the 2024 Etcheve Rising Star Fellowship and has exhibited work nationally and in Germany, including the Maryland Federation of Art, NRM Gallery, Sleep Center (New York, NY), Infinite Balcony (Brooklyn, NY), Sidestreet Arts, ADX, Past Lives, Blind Insect (Portland, OR), Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Echo Park Art Gallery, bG Gallery, and TAG Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). She holds degrees in Fine Arts and Philosophy from Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College in New York. She studied sculpture with Katja Strunz on a scholarship to Universität der Künste Berlin. She is currently fabricating museum exhibition displays and making ideas physical through paintings in Los Angeles.
As a welding, painting, fabricating, and tattooing artist, Marina's work is a constant manipulation of the physical: metal, paint, ink, and bodies. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire her to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect. The objects she makes — always imperfectly embodying perfection — ask viewers to drift within that gap between the non-physical, conceptual realm and our tangible, sensory experience.
Marina is the recipient of the 2024 Etcheve Rising Star Fellowship and has exhibited work nationally and in Germany, including the Maryland Federation of Art, NRM Gallery, Sleep Center (New York, NY), Infinite Balcony (Brooklyn, NY), Sidestreet Arts, ADX, Past Lives, Blind Insect (Portland, OR), Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Echo Park Art Gallery, bG Gallery, and TAG Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). She holds degrees in Fine Arts and Philosophy from Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College in New York. She studied sculpture with Katja Strunz on a scholarship to Universität der Künste Berlin. She is currently fabricating museum exhibition displays and making ideas physical through paintings in Los Angeles.
$11,410.00
Steel sculpture.
47x8x9"
These works are inspired by Plato's Theory of Forms; I want to make physical an idea. The polyhedra are imperfect, physical representations of ideas that exist in the strictly non-physical, conceptual realm. What qualities do all particulars share, and how do these properties inform a universal ideal? What makes a chair a chair, a triangle a triangle, a tetrahedron a tetrahedron?
The industrial throughline of steel brings a utility and strength when used to depict symbols of perfection in the world. I was initially drawn to metalwork over ten years ago because of the material's durability, and how the medium lends itself to industrial design applications. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire me to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect.
$14,260.00
Steel sculpture.
40x40x40"
These works are inspired by Plato's Theory of Forms; I want to make physical an idea. The polyhedra are imperfect, physical representations of ideas that exist in the strictly non-physical, conceptual realm. What qualities do all particulars share, and how do these properties inform a universal ideal? What makes a chair a chair, a triangle a triangle, a tetrahedron a tetrahedron?
The industrial throughline of steel brings a utility and strength when used to depict symbols of perfection in the world. I was initially drawn to metalwork over ten years ago because of the material's durability, and how the medium lends itself to industrial design applications. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire me to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect.
$11,410.00
Steel sculpture.
36x36x22"
These works are inspired by Plato's Theory of Forms; I want to make physical an idea. The polyhedra are imperfect, physical representations of ideas that exist in the strictly non-physical, conceptual realm. What qualities do all particulars share, and how do these properties inform a universal ideal? What makes a chair a chair, a triangle a triangle, a tetrahedron a tetrahedron?
The industrial throughline of steel brings a utility and strength when used to depict symbols of perfection in the world. I was initially drawn to metalwork over ten years ago because of the material's durability, and how the medium lends itself to industrial design applications. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire me to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect.
$11,410.00
Steel sculpture.
33.50x33.50x33.50"
These works are inspired by Plato's Theory of Forms; I want to make physical an idea. The polyhedra are imperfect, physical representations of ideas that exist in the strictly non-physical, conceptual realm. What qualities do all particulars share, and how do these properties inform a universal ideal? What makes a chair a chair, a triangle a triangle, a tetrahedron a tetrahedron?
The industrial throughline of steel brings a utility and strength when used to depict symbols of perfection in the world. I was initially drawn to metalwork over ten years ago because of the material's durability, and how the medium lends itself to industrial design applications. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire me to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect.
$11,410.00
Steel sculpture.
35.50x35.50x27"
These works are inspired by Plato's Theory of Forms; I want to make physical an idea. The polyhedra are imperfect, physical representations of ideas that exist in the strictly non-physical, conceptual realm. What qualities do all particulars share, and how do these properties inform a universal ideal? What makes a chair a chair, a triangle a triangle, a tetrahedron a tetrahedron?
The industrial throughline of steel brings a utility and strength when used to depict symbols of perfection in the world. I was initially drawn to metalwork over ten years ago because of the material's durability, and how the medium lends itself to industrial design applications. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire me to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect.
$11,410.00
Oil and acrylic on canvas.
30x40x1.50"
I'm interested in the simultaneous 2D and 3D qualities of polyhedra forms: when photographed, the shapes become flattened like line drawings, points of connection that stretch and change along with the camera's vantage. I've made woodcuts, tattoos, and collages that celebrate this shifting, flattening phenomenon. These paintings begin from this premise and depart by getting close and paying attention — indicating the subtle dimensionality and reflected light of the round stock material within these flattened two dimensional views, especially the compositions that are magnified and cropped.
$9,985.00
Steel sculpture.
20x20x8.50"
These works are inspired by Plato's Theory of Forms; I want to make physical an idea. The polyhedra are imperfect, physical representations of ideas that exist in the strictly non-physical, conceptual realm. What qualities do all particulars share, and how do these properties inform a universal ideal? What makes a chair a chair, a triangle a triangle, a tetrahedron a tetrahedron?
The industrial throughline of steel brings a utility and strength when used to depict symbols of perfection in the world. I was initially drawn to metalwork over ten years ago because of the material's durability, and how the medium lends itself to industrial design applications. Plato’s inquiries into the timeless perfection of imagined geometric shapes, and into how geometries might lie behind all nature, inspire me to make objects that (though necessarily imperfect because they will never have perfect straight edges, and must eventually erode) tease our minds toward the perfect.
$14,260.00
Oil and acrylic on canvas.
30x48x1.50"
I’ve continued to develop this work by exploring what happens as the purity of geometry is represented alongside the particular (and always imperfect) shapes of flesh bodies. Does a stellated tetrahedron alongside an extended, reaching hand highlight the symmetry and order of its features, or highlight its human-ness? When a perfectly symmetrical hexahedron is set atop human shoulders in place of where a head would be, are we pointed to hypothetical ideals or actualized realities?
$14,260.00
Oil and acrylic on canvas.
30x48x1.50"
I’ve continued to develop this work by exploring what happens as the purity of geometry is represented alongside the particular (and always imperfect) shapes of flesh bodies. Does a stellated tetrahedron alongside an extended, reaching hand highlight the symmetry and order of its features, or highlight its human-ness? When a perfectly symmetrical hexahedron is set atop human shoulders in place of where a head would be, are we pointed to hypothetical ideals or actualized realities?
$11,410.00
Oil and acrylic on canvas.
30.50x24.50x1.25"
I'm interested in the simultaneous 2D and 3D qualities of polyhedra forms: when photographed, the shapes become flattened like line drawings, points of connection that stretch and change along with the camera's vantage. I've made woodcuts, tattoos, and collages that celebrate this shifting, flattening phenomenon. These paintings begin from this premise and depart by getting close and paying attention — indicating the subtle dimensionality and reflected light of the round stock material within these flattened two dimensional views, especially the compositions that are magnified and cropped.
Welded steel frame.
$11,410.00
Oil and acrylic on canvas.
24.25x30.25x1.25"
I'm interested in the simultaneous 2D and 3D qualities of polyhedra forms: when photographed, the shapes become flattened like line drawings, points of connection that stretch and change along with the camera's vantage. I've made woodcuts, tattoos, and collages that celebrate this shifting, flattening phenomenon. These paintings begin from this premise and depart by getting close and paying attention — indicating the subtle dimensionality and reflected light of the round stock material within these flattened two dimensional views, especially the compositions that are magnified and cropped.
Welded steel frame.
$11,410.00
Oil and acrylic on canvas.
33.50x30.50x2"
I'm interested in the simultaneous 2D and 3D qualities of polyhedra forms: when photographed, the shapes become flattened like line drawings, points of connection that stretch and change along with the camera's vantage. I've made woodcuts, tattoos, and collages that celebrate this shifting, flattening phenomenon. These paintings begin from this premise and depart by getting close and paying attention — indicating the subtle dimensionality and reflected light of the round stock material within these flattened two dimensional views, especially the compositions that are magnified and cropped.
Wooden frame.