The art of Marc Pena exists in a shabby gallery down a winding corridor in London’s St. James’s district, somewhere between the Soho strip joints and the tourist traps of Piccadilly Circus. To get there you have to walk past the strippers and around the corner from the guys selling fake London Underground maps, and then up a flight of stairs that leads to an unmarked door.
There’s no sign on the door, but if you look closely at the number plate next to it, you will see it has been tampered with: someone has taken a black marker and carefully drawn over two numbers so that they read “ART.”
Behind this door is Postmodern Art Ltd., a company that exists to sell one product: paintings by Marc Pena, who is thought by many experts to be one of the most important artists of our time.
Pena is an artist widely believed to be fictitious. His work has been written about in prestigious publications such as The New Yorker and Artforum, and exhibited in galleries across Europe. His paintings have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars; one sold for $1 million. His public appearances are often reported in the press; he has had his own exhibitions and taken part in high-profile art fairs
Marc Pena is an artist who makes art that has to be seen to be believed.
His goal is to make art that can’t be categorized, and he succeeds in making postmodern art that is unlike any other.
Pena’s work reflects his unique view of the world, and you can get a sense of what it is from his Web site. It contains a diverse collection of artworks, all original and all created by Pena.
The name “postmodern” was applied to this type of artwork in the 1980s because it draws on earlier styles and genres in a combination that adds up to something new. Today, “postmodern” often has negative connotations because it’s used to describe things like a muddle of styles or a mishmash of influences. To some observers, postmodernism is about recycling the past for profit without adding anything new.
Judging from his Web site, Pena takes a different view. He sees postmodernism as an opportunity to play with different styles and create something new. The result isn’t just beautiful; it’s thought-provoking as well, which distinguishes Pena’s work from that of others who practice postmodern techniques.
When you look at Pena’s images, they aren’t
Pena’s work is often considered postmodern art. He produces paintings, sculptures, and installations which are both abstract and representational: they are made of recognizable objects, but the objects have been re-imagined in a manner which suggests a new meaning.
Taken as a whole, his work questions societal norms regarding gender and sexuality. Pena sees his work as evidence that society has developed a kind of cult around what he calls “the male gaze”; people see things through the lens of how they think men would interpret them.
Pena resists this interpretation by making his works more ambiguous than they appear at first glance; if you look more closely at one of his pieces, you may find that the object you had thought was an earring is actually an udder, or that the piece which appears to be a bra is actually a pair of boxer shorts.
“In a way, I’m the best artist in the world,” Pena told [the reporter]. “I can paint with anything.”
He was sitting at his kitchen table in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and two young children. He had just finished breakfast, which consisted of a cup of coffee and three cigarettes. His long hair and short beard were flecked with white paint. A half-finished painting leaned against the wall near the refrigerator; it was one of his triptychs, this one on the theme of Mexican wrestling. “You have to make art no matter what happens,” he said. “It’s like breathing for me.”
The reporter asked Pena if it was difficult to paint with unusual materials.
“No,” he said. “Everything is just a tool—if you work it right.”
“But what about power tools?” she asked.
“What about them?”
“Could you use a jigsaw or an electric drill for your art?”
“Sure—if I wanted my hand to look like a machine,” he said.”
Pena’s art is a response to the minimalism and conceptualism of the late 1960s, which he calls “the worst period in art.” According to Pena, artists at that time were focused on meaning and message, rather than form. He says, “They were looking for the big statement. I began to question what was an artwork.”
Pena was born and raised in Brazil. When he was 12 years old, he visited San Francisco for the first time and was drawn to the culture and history of the city. He moved from Brazil to San Francisco when he was 25 years old, where he would go on to study and work in art. In general, his artwork focuses on cultural identity; however, it also explores many other issues including economics and gender. In some of his works he uses cultural symbols from different countries and combines them with iconic American images to express how different cultures are intertwined in today’s world.
Tone is how you feel about the subject. Tone can be humorous or serious or any mood between funny and serious. Tone is usually best if it matches your voice (which you will learn more about in your vocal lessons).
As a postmodern artist, I see things exactly the opposite. I believe that the world around us is “art” and that every day we are in a museum or gallery. It is just that most of the time, people do not realize it.
We look at stuff around us and we call it junk, garbage, trash. We say it does not have any value or meaning. Well for me, I just look at these objects as art and try to find the meaning in it. My posters are made from this kind of “junk”. As you can see in my photos and my paintings I use different kinds of recycled materials: tin cans, broken mirror pieces, vintage bicycle wheels, analog instruments, vinyl records etc…
I think that everyone has their own interpretation to what they see in my work. Some people think they are going to see some kind of narrative or story in my posters but I do not want to tell any story with my work. People can create their own stories or make their own associations with each individual piece of artworks. The intention is not to deliver a message but rather to open the door for the viewer’s imagination by giving him/her new perspectives regarding his/her surroundings.
