Mariona Barkus

Artist Statement

Throughout my artistic career, I’ve pursued distinct parallel
bodies of work —
Socio-Political Graphics, Sculpture, & Books critique
modern society:
“...At their best, the text-and-image combos combine the
clever symbology of political cartooning with the graphic punch of poster design. This is especially true of Barkus, who can lob a zinger across a room...” (Peter Frank, LA Weekly)

Abstract Paintings reflect formal, aesthetic & spiritual
concerns:
“...Mariona Barkus’ delicately minimal painting “Torso 60”...is a gray square in which only a slightly whitened area of brush
strokes vaguely indicates the shape of the human torso...spare
style works slowly and subtly on the eye: The work is almost an
optical illusion.” (Cathy Curtis, L.A. Times OC)

At the same time as I’ve pursued these two, in the course of a
search for self awareness, a third body of work — more
personal and introspective— has evolved combining painting
and image-text.
Using text, paint, collage, and humor, I create “embodiments” of
these ongoing inner dialogues. When I say embodiment I mean I
seek to have the forms, colors and image visually and physically capture and convey an emotional reality that goes beyond the text.