Marin Abell

May-June 2010

About the Artist

Marin Abell approaches art as an opportunity to fold levels of reality together that are traditionally kept apart. His sculptural events are explorations in futility, and involve the creation of rarified objects that can be integrated into the public sphere. Marin embraces the role of the anti-hero to generate experiences that don’t always culminate in satisfaction. He incorporates his physical body into his work to interrogate its pliability in the face of conditioning and constraints imposed by society, and to discover limits of his own self-control. For example, he races with a bicycle he's jerry-rigged to go backwards when peddled forwards, and in acquiring this difficult skill he learns about unlearning everything he knows about riding a bike. Marin’s artistic activity involves multiple projects such as this in order to address a broader spectrum of his being. In asserting space for the individual, he aims to open up possibilities that develop mindfulness in him as the artist and transmit this new mindfulness to the viewer. By mindfulness he means perspectives from multiple viewpoints. Marin received his BFA in Sculpture from James Madison University, and his MFA in Sculpture & Expanded Practice from Ohio University, where he was also an instructor. In addition to Sculpture Space, he has received full fellowships at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Vermont Studio Center, and Spiro Arts. Marin is a former intern at the Museum of Modern Art's (NYC) Film Department, and is currently the Director of Outreach at Spiro Arts in Park City, UT.