Artist-in-Residence at Pasadena City College: Marnie Weber (2019)

Twisted Refrain: The Work of Marnie Weber

Los Angeles-based, multi-media artist Marnie Weber received her BA from University of California, Los Angeles in 1981 and is represented by Gavlak Gallery. She has shown her unique and affecting works internationally from the very start of her art career.

Multi-talented, Weber creates sculptures, installations, film and video works, collage and performance art. Additionally, she has created cover art for various books and has released solo albums and albums with her band the “Spirit Girls”. Her work has been celebrated in numerous solo shows and group shows by noteworthy artist/curators all over the world. It is striking to note the tremendous amount essays written by renowned art writers who have been inspired to write about Weber’s fascinating work.  

Curatorial Statement by Mahara T. Sinclaire

Marnie Weber’s centralizing embrace of the societal fringe mimics our globalized reassessment of the dominant point of view, debunking the old norm for a new model where the previously peripheral moves to center stage. Her world of freaky side-show circus characters, runaway waifs and mobile home denizens are counter-culture oddities recast as empowered models of defiantly capable heroes, or at least battered survivors. Unabashedly narrative in nature, these works maneuver like familiar storybook legends and fairy tale lore, insinuating themselves into our subconscious soup of primal fears and childhood nightmares. At first seeming to be eccentric cast-offs, these damaged personages soon reveal themselves to be stand-ins for us, fragile yet resilient, emotionally vulnerable human beings of merit and worth in search of acceptance and security. Through these surrogate misfits, we find compassion for ourselves.

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The Enchanted Waterfall, Video projection Melancholy Pig, 2016, Costume on soft mannequin Waterfall Rocks, 2016, Polyurethane, foam, wood, foam coat and acrylic paint Courtesy of the artist and Gavlak, Los Angeles	Giggle of Clowns, 2009, 12 clowns Marc Jancou, The Bondage Decay, NYC, Apr 23–June 6, 2009 MOCA, Room to Live: Recent Acquisitions & Works from the Collection, L.A., Oct 5, 2013 – Mar 30, 2014
The Truth Speakers (Ventriloquist Dolls) (2009) Mixed media Doll: 70” (H) x 20” (W) x 13” (D) = (177.8 x 50.8 x 33 cm) Case: 16” (H) x 74 ¾” (W) x 27 ½” (D) = (40.6 x 189.9 x 69.9 cm) Shelves: 5 ¾” including bracket (H) x 17” (W) x 16 5/8” (D) each (thickness ¾”) 5 Tables: 24” diameter tables with burgundy tablecloths, found wooden chairs, fake candles, sparkly curtains on either side of projection	7.20.12 Moonlit Scarecrow, from The Diary of Time, 2012-2013 Collage and paint on magazine paper 10” (H) x 8” (W) = (25.4 x 20.3 cm) to 12” (H) x 9” (W) = (30.5 x 22.9 cm) Courtesy of the artist and Praz-delavallade Gallery
Witches (2018)  Inkjet Collage and Acrylic Paint on BFK Paper 62”h x 42”w, Courtesy of the artist