Ann Marshall Art

2009-06-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

2009-06-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

I fed this guy!

2009-02-26T22:24:00.001-08:00

Conversely

2009-02-24T22:10:00.001-08:00

2009-02-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

2009-02-09T15:57:00.000-08:00

I'll be participating in the One City Exhibition with the lovely ladies over at Jajo Gallery:

2008-11-19T21:11:00.000-08:00

2008-11-19T21:06:00.000-08:00

The Foundation for Open Creation

2008-11-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

Photos of the FFOC's November 8th benefit, "Soul on Skin," are now available.

And they're fabulous.

Congratulations to Autumn, Heather, and Kristen for a great event.

Late Bloomers

2008-10-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

Taken from a beautiful article by Malcolm Gladwell on late bloomers in the creative field:

"This is the final lesson of the late bloomer: his or her success is highly contingent on the efforts of others. In biographies of Cézanne, Louis-Auguste invariably comes across as a kind of grumpy philistine, who didn’t appreciate his son’s genius. But Louis-Auguste didn’t have to support Cézanne all those years. He would have been within his rights to make his son get a real job, just as Sharie might well have said no to her husband’s repeated trips to the chaos of Haiti. She could have argued that she had some right to the life style of her profession and status—that she deserved to drive a BMW, which is what power couples in North Dallas drive, instead of a Honda Accord, which is what she settled for.

But she believed in her husband’s art, or perhaps, more simply, she believed in her husband, the same way Zola and Pissarro and Vollard and—in his own, querulous way—Louis-Auguste must have believed in Cézanne. Late bloomers’ stories are invariably love stories, and this may be why we have such difficulty with them. We’d like to think that mundane matters like loyalty, steadfastness, and the willingness to keep writing checks to support what looks like failure have nothing to do with something as rarefied as genius. But sometimes genius is anything but rarefied; sometimes it’s just the thing that emerges after twenty years of working at your kitchen table."

Portrait of Sophie

2008-10-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

2008-10-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

Drawing Day

2008-10-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

At Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday I had some much needed drawing time with friends Jason Watson and Tim Bush. I ended up in arms and armor.

On a good news side note, Tim's book "Three at Sea" will be read from by Brook Shields on an upcoming episode of NBC's Lipstick Jungle.

New Work

2008-10-16T23:04:00.000-07:00

Soul on Skin

2008-10-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

On November 8th, I'll be participating in the "Soul on Skin" fundraiser for the newly created Foundation for Open Creation. The Foundation for Open Creation is a non-profit organization which was formed to further integrate self-expression into the medical community and the community-at-large. The FFOC aims to develop the idea that art, specifically tattoo art, can augment the recovery process for those with issues both physical and psychological.

This event focuses exclusively on breast cancer survivors. Mastectomy scars can be severe and tattoo art offers an alternative to reconstruction, allowing survivors to transform scars into personal expressions of their experience. Funds raised from this event will provide tattoos for low income, post mastectomy women. Details are below.

When creating the work for auction, I wanted to steer away from the usual cliched images surrounding the disease. There would be no pink color scheme, no corporate sponsored sisters linking arms in solidarity, and absolutely no teddy bears (or anything else you could buy at a gas station quickie-mart, decals included).

I've personally always taken issue with what Barbara Ehrenreich termed in a great article for Harper's Magazine "The Cult of Pink Kitsch." As a survivor/victim/sufferer, what one can best hope for (after recovery of course) is some sort of abstract gained wisdom. Though if most victims are honest, they'll admit that they would have rather done without this knowledge, thank you. Still, one isn't given a choice and if you are lucky enough to make it through, one must go on with strength and dignity. Its the only way.

Suffering breeds empathy however, and the most positive result is that cancer victims may be able to guide others more effectively through the morass, or at least hold their hand as they go.

So this is a portrait of a girl who made it through. Life is still vibrant and she's still a force, sensual and intelligent, in all of her beautiful (though unsentimental) power and glory. And she knows more now, for what's that worth, and will go on to live with passion.

2008-10-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

I had to buy a pastel container with slats so the cat wouldn't lay in anymore.

Hello Stranger

2008-10-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough year and I admit that art has fallen by the wayside. Anyone who has ever had a sick parent or child knows how all consuming the situation can become. Appointments and paperwork take up huge amounts of time, as do the more mundane duties of helping out with someone else's chores. Work days end up being spent in hospital waiting rooms and hours are spent on the phone with insurance companies (surely there is a special corner in hell for them).

So sandwiched in between paying gigs, I did what personal work I could. Mostly my efforts fell short and were tossed in the discard pile that's growing beside my storage closet. My head just wasn't in the right space and there were too many distractions.

That old song about suffering and drama being a catalyst for good art is a lie. What it takes to produce good art is time, hard work, and a room of one's own. When I produce my best work, my life is blessedly uneventful. And now that things have calmed down, I hope to return to focused work and a total image revamp.

So, first things first. The blog returns and will contain the usual postings of drawings, photos, and further information regarding my work and general goings on that don't fit so easily (or quickly) onto my website. There will be some serious stuff, some fluff, and like most things of this nature, its general theme and content will be worked out eventually in time. I'm not sure what I'm doing yet. Feedback is always appreciated.

Not all things this past year have been a wash however:

2008-08-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

2008-08-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

My sister's braces.

2008-08-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

My old blog was flagged for "objectionable content." I believe this was the drawing that did it. In retrospect, the deviant nature of the work is immediately apparent.

2008-08-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

I once went to London and spent most of my per diem at TOPSHOP.

2008-08-14T15:18:00.001-07:00

Tommy's gear.

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My gear.

2008-08-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

Our super high-tech apartment.

2008-08-14T15:11:00.000-07:00