Artwork Description
Marietta Patricia Leis – Striving I
Dimensions: 22 x 96″
Year:
Medium: acrylic, graphite, Tyvek, stel
Marietta Patricia Leis is an internationally exhibiting multimedia artist & poet. Originally from New Jersey USA, she has lived & worked in New York City as well as Los Angeles, & is currently based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Leis’ reductive, expressive visual practice is shaped out of experiments in material process & takes inspiration from the forms of nature, sense of place & the internal landscape.
The Silent Road is a dialogue between painting and sculpture. It is a road that leads in two directions, reaching upward toward the ancient beamed ceiling of the Palazzo Mora and winding downward to its staircase landing. The Silent Road was inspired by my time in Iceland during the dark months of the long Icelandic winter. The treeless, volcanic landscape revealed the earth’s curved horizon, confronting me with a stark image of all that is infinite, both visually and metaphorically. My acute sense of this fascinating and haunting place provided fertile ground for germination of The Silent Road.
I have always made art using a variety of mediums, choosing those that best serve and amplify my intentions. For the Silent Road, graphite painted on Tyvek ™ (a paper-like plastic sheeting used to insulate houses) evoked the shimmering darkness of Iceland’s volcanic rock. I hand-burnished the graphite until it radiated that luster. Thus, the Tyvek ™ is magically transformed, as old traditions meet modern technologies on the Silent Road.
My handwork traced every inch of surface on the Silent Road. The Silent Road, marking a path and leaving a record of my artist’s journey for others to follow. The Road’s reductive surface texture offers hidden complexities for the viewer to ferret out – an opportunity to engage with the work without straining to understand it, simply traveling The Road with me for a journey in silent contemplation.
In today’s noisy world, we can become distracted, numb to our deepest natures. The road to authenticity is but its very nature, traveled in solitude. It is an internal road that, with patience, can lead deep into the core of our being. As we each embark on the journey to this rich and fertile place, we can discover a common thread os the shared humanity that binds us.
My intention is for my art to be palpable, transmitting a sensation of adventure, beauty, and peace. I invite you to travel it.
Marietta Patricia Leis