Marika Marx '20 | Senior Capstone Exhibition
Marika Marx '20 is a featured artist in the 2020 Senior Capstone Exhibition, a virtual gallery showing that represents the culmination of four years of undergraduate work that ends in a yearlong art project created by each member of the senior class.
Statement from the Artist
The morning light streams into the saltwater, creating iridescent patterns that dance through the currents as if the soft light was turning to liquid. The ocean’s gentle power cascades over me pushing the hair from my face as the water embraces me, as I embrace the silence. That silence is one that I had not experienced before, the absent ringing in the ears, a deathly calm, turbulent stillness. Inhale. I soak in the sweet salt air as it fills my lungs. Exhale. The stale air escapes my lungs whispering, it’s okay as it leaves my lips. I was subsumed by this chaos, not one that causes panic, or is loud and brooding, but the subtle chaos that seeps through, saturating with a potent calm and begs you to pay attention.
"...I translate my experiences to develop a different understanding of a creature we all know, chaos."
—Marika Marx '20
I think that I might be obsessed with chaos, not based in fear, but in the intrigue of its gentleness. How could something so seemingly destructive be so beautiful? This has absorbed my mind and saturated my life with a new awareness of the world. The idea of chaos is different to everyone, some find chaos in the wind, each strand of hair whipping them in the face as their own personal vortex. While others feel the soothing caress of the wind as it flows past, reminiscent of an old friend.
Marika Marx '20view gallery
With my sculptures, paintings, and multimedia works I translate my experiences to develop a different understanding of a creature we all know, chaos. Through my investigation of how we as humans experience, learn from, and understand chaos, I found that within chaos we find ourselves. I explore this ambiguous being through the use of a specific sensation, turbulent stillness. This type of stillness allows us to tune into ourselves and hear what has been craving to be heard. Specifically, I analyze perpetual change and interconnectedness to explore chaotic systems like the human mind, the ocean, and mortality. Through the use of contrasting textures within my sculptures and visceral brushwork balancing with soft gradients within my paintings, I create opposing relationships to evoke feelings of this turbulent stillness. By stimulating this sensation I hope that even a brief encounter with my work will spark curiosity to explore the chaos and find peace within the turbulent stillness in your life.
All I ask is that you let the chaos in, for the wild just might enrich your life and soothe your soul.
—Marika Marx '20
