Overweight @ Irvine Contemporary
James Marshall, or Dalek, has been a fixture in the urban art scene for ten years. Best known for his "Space Monkey" characters, Marshall brings this influence to Irvine Contemporary in his solo show, Overweight.
Seen as a combination of street art, cartoon, Japanese pop and punk, Marshall's paintings are very precise and highly complex compositions. Using bright neon colors he creates dizzying kaleidoscopic displays. The shapes that he employs are simple and minimal but become crowded and busy once layered many times over. These shapes and patterns can be found throughout his paintings as they are repeated again and again in different compositions.
Marshall's work is consistent and angular as harsh geometric shapes make up the majority of his work. The points of triangles and vanishing rectangles emphasize the deliberate perfection found throughout his compositions. Even arches and arcs become harsh as they are sectioned off into thinner lines. Each piece is confusing to the eye and overwhelming in complexity. Painted with acrylics, it is hard to believe that this precision was created by man and not machine.
Each piece has remarkable depth, given the flatness of the shapes and colors of the objects in the compositions. There are no gradients or shading, only flat color blocks. Excellent use of scale and the horizon line, along with color choice, is used to make shapes recede into the background or come forward. In one such piece, the dark black areas recede and become the background where all other shapes naturally come forward of the darker color. In another painting, large swaths of bright aqua become the backdrop. The blue is reminiscent of a clear sky and the arches and arcs start to resemble a Farris wheel. It is bright, crowded, confusing and fun, just like attending a fair.
The largest piece in the show is the most complex (pictured). It is busy and complicated just like all the rest, but a plane of blue rectangles of various shades dominates the left quadrant of the painting. Despite the numerous layers and distractions found elsewhere on the canvas, this section pulls the eye because it is more calm, with the contrast drawing emphasis.
Image courtesy of the gallery.
Overweight is on view at Irvine Contemporary through June 21. Irvine is located at 1412 14th St. NW and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.