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Marcus Antonius Jansen Exhibits in Fort Myers
Artist Marcus Jansen.Photo credit: Flip Minot
By Irene Sperber
Fort Myers artist Marcus Jansen describes his paintings as a “puzzle designed for people with critical thinking.” He clearly is an artist for the modern urban condition.
Attracted by traditional landscape artists but inclined to relate vividly to the urban landscape, he has an instinct that relays a suggestion of aerosol art’s strong, dynamic contemporary energy. A native of New York City, it is evident Jansen’s original hometown has made an indelible mark on his expressive psyche. Aerosol artists were making the leap from street “writers” to recognized gallery personalities at the time young Marcus was riding graffiti-laden trains moving around a city rife with museums, galleries, and all things evocative.
Obscure Encounters Between Fact and Fiction,2010, oil enamel on canvas,135" x 90"
Design school in Germany, a stint in the Middle East’s Desert Storm War, and an assemblage of musically artistic family members molded Jansen’s varied and colorful life from which to create a social commentary on war, trauma, culture, style, and relationships. It is obvious from the canvases that Jansen is not a wilting violet: strong, confident lines pepper the work, with concern for the violence and decay of nature, man, and our urban culture. The complexity of multi-tiered symbolism takes time to decipher, with an array of iconic images presented in each “story.” You can physically see the influence of various life stages intermingling as Jansen weaves together a quilt from his intellect and experience. His sharp eye sees meaning in all things: reflection, texture, color, shape, movement, mood, gesture, emotion-all collide in the complicated street life ambience. A wide array of images may be depicted, and often a single object . . . gas pump, lone street light, or spray can.
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Playgrounds, 2009,oil enamel collage on canvas, 60" x 72"
Marcus Jansen references The Wizard of Oz in several strong pieces. The movie debuted after the onset of the Depression, and in essence commented on economic decline, as this painter is doing today. The five movie characters were purported to represent parts of America. You can see these alluded to in
In Search of a Heart (shown in the Fort Myers exhibition), E Pluribus Unum, and Creeping Obstacles in Kansas.
Termed “the Father of Modern Urban Expressionism” by Jerome Donson, curator of the prestigious Vanguard Exhibition and a Rockefeller Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art, Mr. Jansen can be tough to pigeon-hole. When perusing reviews and information, one cannot help but notice the art community trying to pin him down: Urban-Socio political, urban landscape painting, shades of the Ash Can School, Urban Graffiti, German Expressionism, abstraction, Synthetic Cubism, post modern, neo-realism; even Hopi influences have been recognized.
Jansen says he “does a lot of research about what is happening.” The piece Obscure Lines Between Fact and Fiction “was motivated by increased surveillance in the world.” All his paintings have a double meaning.
His latest solo exhibition in Florida, “A Painter’s Allegory,” was on view through May 27th at the stunningly restored Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center. Located in the historic Fort Myers River district, this neo-classical revival limestone and coral columned edifice has been dubbed the Fort Myers Parthenon.
The award-winning artist is represented by Miami gallery 101/exhibit.101 NE 40th Street, Miami Design District. www.101exhibit.com
