Jeff Bailey Gallery is pleased to present, Joshua Marsh: Ten Things. This is Marsh's first solo exhibition and the inaugural exhibition in the gallery's new ground floor location at 625 West 27th St, between 11th and 12th Avenues.
Marsh's oil on panel paintings depict common domestic objects or scenes, such as a chair, a pair of boots, or bedside. Strong color and form evoke not only actual objects but also our varied perceptions of them.
Light permeates each painting, providing both illumination, shadow and compositional form. Mirror appears aglow with orange, yet it could be a reflection, or afterimage. An easel is shown in silhouette, becoming a part of the image that it's been used to depict. Chair, essentially life-size, is caught in a blinding light. It's shadow vies for equal play.
There is a heightened quality to each color, whether bold or feint. Boots is minimal in its subdued tones of grey and white. Two L-shaped forms abut each other, one vertical and one horizontal. Their softened edges seem to slowly fade, but not recede.
Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue with essay by Geoffrey Young. He describes Marsh's work, in part, as follows: "Enriched by perceptual subtlety (his need for infinitely close-values), we learn to see anew, to bear down on what goes unnoticed, but is common to us all. These paintings rekindle a feeling for what surrounds us."
Joshua Marsh (born 1973, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) received a BFA from Washington University, St. Louis and an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States. Marsh lives and works in West Chester, Pennsylvania.