view from earth

june 24 - august 1, 2015
coolspace @ artspace

In February 2015 Art Critic Lauren Smart visited artspace to review the Critical MASS exhibition. Over 100 artists participated, but Painter Marilyn Couch took home the prize in visual art. Marilyn weaves images within her paintings as the brush strokes both hide and reveal aspects within the scenes possibly overlooked by the viewer. Marilyn hopes the viewers imagination will pull images from the unconscious reviving discarded thoughts. 

Artist statement

I paint. My work borders on surrealism and impressionism with an emphasis on environmental consciousness. I recycle discarded objects and incorporate them into my paintings. My imagination dances between conscious and unconscious aspects of my mind. Strokes of paint embrace canvas. Images play hide and seek and gently are encouraged to appear. Discarded objects that have lost their chi are found and revived with new purpose. The edges disappear and painter and painted become one.

Review from the critic

Surprises lurk in the art of Marilyn Couch.

She brings a sharp eye and a delicate touch to her luminous mixed media paintings on display in her first solo exhibition, “View From Earth,” at artspace.

Although the pieces span several decades — Couch has been an artist since childhood — there is a 20-year gap in Couch’s resume. She returned to painting after a shoulder injury to create “Summer Harvest,” her playful painting on a dishrag that earned best of show earlier this year in the open call group show, Critical Mass. In that painting, she created a world of lush bricolage, weaving together found elements into acrylic paint for a vivid, energetic scene.

In her older works Couch derives scenes straight from nature, plucking birds and fish and placing them in ominous, mystical surroundings. Certainly much of her newer work remains steeped in flora and fauna, but Couch reveals a more surreal, transcendent approach, creating Impressionistic whirlpools of color, as sensitive to the world of thought and emotion as the specific observation. She draws inspiration from painters like Chagall and Renoir, wrapping her figures in imaginative worlds.

Couch shares moments from her life with us, relaying stories of her life spent abroad working for the military through poems and recreated scenes. She infuses her canvas with scenes from her rich, complicated life, which has been filled with spiritual and physical exploration of the earth.

View From Earth is a deceptively simple exhibition. The figures are not wildly complex and her abstractions are scattershot, as if Couch is picking up remnants of a shipwrecked muse. And this description is likely one Couch would ascribe to, as her work carries with it a sense of urgency about the unfair treatment of the planet she’s spent her life exploring. When inspiration strikes, Couch doesn’t rush to the store to buy canvas and a frame, she reaches for a kitchen dish rag. When she’s finished she’ll place it in a humble frame, giving these objects new life. Through Couch’s paintbrush the world is filled with magic, but only if you stop and look close enough.

EXHIBITING ARTIST:
Marilyn Couch

Artist Bio

Marilyn’s paintings border on surrealism and impressionism, with an emphasis on environmental consciousness. She recycles discarded objects and incorporates them into her paintings. She is a native Houstonian. A Texas gal at heart, Marilyn was among ten youths identified by the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to participate in a weekly three year art instruction Scholarship Class. She received the Mary Gibbs four year college scholarship and graduated from Lamar University. Her Bachelor of Science Degree was awarded in 1968. She was the Art Teacher at Beaumont High School for 1969. With an eye on economics and travel, Marilyn entered federal civil service in 1971. She was Fort Polk Army Base’s Educational Television Visual Artist. Following her gypsy heart, she and her three year old daughter moved to New York in 1972. There she worked as a West Point Academy Graphic Artist. In 1974, they moved to Bossier City in Louisiana to become Barksdale Air Force Base ( AFB) 8th Air Force Command Commercial Illustrator and Arts and Crafts Director respectively. The murals she painted during the years 1974-1981 are on display at the 8th Air Force Museum in Bossier City LA. In 1982 she was promoted to Shaw AFB Graphics Director in South Carolina. Later she served as Arts and Crafts Director at Little Rock AFB and Bergstrom AFB during 1985-88. She rose to MWR Director at Bergstrom AFB 89-90. Marilyn sadly left Austin as the base closed and flew to Guam. She served as Recreation Flight Chief until her promotion to HQ PACAF Command Recreation Chief in Hawaii 93-95. Coming home to Texas, she was promoted to Services Division Chief for Laughlin AFB, Del Rio 96-97. Marilyn’s final position before retirement in 2000 was HQ AET Command Recreation Flight Chief.
Marilyn moved to Shreveport in 2012 to be near her family. She was an instructor at Shreveport’s 2015 Art Break Program. She took up the joy of creating with canvass and brush after many years of outward expressions. She is a North West Louisiana Directory Artist. She was selected by Shreveport Regional Art Council as a collectable artist 2015. She also served as set and costume designer for Shreveport’s Cabaret Community Dinner Theater, production of Tom Sawyer. Marilyn won Best In Show in the Shreveport Regional Arts Council Critical Mass III Competition during 2015, which lead to her first solo show at artspace Shreveport, Jun 21-Aug 1 2015.