Artist Talk at UCF Art Gallery Wednesday, October 26 at 11:30am
Marielle Plaisir: 2022 Dorothy M. Gillespie Visiting Artist
South Arts 2021 Southern Prize Winner and Florida Fellow
Hollywood, FL, resident Marielle Plaisir (b. 1978) is a French-Caribbean multi-media artist with strong ties to Guadeloupe who was born in Le Havre, France. Among her solo exhibitions are several in Bordeaux, France, including at the Musée d’Aquitaine; the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, FL, with the ACTA NON VERBA performance in collaboration with Anselm Kiefer; MOCA Miami and Locust Project in Miami; Tafeta Gallery in London; DEBUCK Gallery in New-York; St. Paul and St. Pierre Cathedral in Guadeloupe; and the French embassy in Senegal. Among group shows Plaisir has participated in are those at New York’s Hunter Gallery; Oolite Art in Miami Beach, Miami’s Little Haiti Cultural Center and Doral’s DORCAM, all in Florida; Memorial ACTe museum in Guadeloupe; and Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Her works have been presented widely at fairs and biennials in London, New York, Miami and Miami Beach, Paris, Florence, Italy, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Dakar, Senegal, Santo-Domingo, Dominican Republic, and elsewhere. Plaisir graduated from the National Superior School of Fine Art and Decorative Arts in Bordeaux.
Artist Statement:
Through a range of media that includes painting, sculpture, photography, installation, film and performances, I present intense visual experiences with work that examines the concept of social domination and explores issues of colonialism alongside those of race and class. My work particularly examines the construction of identity. It asks what constitutes our collective contemporary identity today as people born in the struggle against domination and power respond and behave. I underline common issues between U.S. Black history and Caribbean history: the labor movements and the fights for equality throughout history through literature and philosophy. One of the ways in which I have countered anti-blackness through my work is by presenting the color black itself as the subject of my paintings. Rather than use readymade black paint, I chose to create my own shade, utilizing every color in my palette as a symbol for the beauty, power and multitudes of blackness. Within this space, I populate my backgrounds with lush imagery drawn from nature’s constellations, natural forms and flowers, inspired by both my Caribbean roots and my imagined ideal of a utopia without oppression. The works both resist and hope – they are reflective of my wish to not only draw attention to the importance of challenging harmful histories but also speak to the interconnection of humans, the universality of fractured identities and the power of recognizing and depicting inner worlds.
The 2022 Dorothy M. Gillespie Visiting Artist is generously funded by Gary Israel and the Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation. This funding supports a female professional visual artist to visit the UCF School of Visual Arts and Design to commemorate the legacy of Dorothy M. Gillespie as a visual artist and enthusiast for higher education in the arts.
Location:
UCF Art Gallery
Visual Arts Building Room 140
University of Central Florida
12400 Aquarius Agora Drive
Orlando, FL 32816
Free and open to the public, register in advance: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/441667518437
We'll also have this live streamed to YouTube: https://youtu.be/K4jVVASvztg
Free parking is available in Garage F next to the Addition Financial Arena. Parking lot H4 or Garage I requires purchasing a $5 daily virtual visitor permit Purchase Here. Please note that visitors should park in green student spaces ONLY, as the $5 daily virtual permit does not cover red and blue spaces.
Read MoreRegister for this event.