Marvin Shaver - Artist Statement

I remember when I was in grade school looking at a magnified image of cells and thinking it was an aerial view of some part of this planet or perhaps Venus or some other celestial object. As I read the caption and realized what it was, I felt disoriented and a little woozy. How was it that something we can’t even see with the naked eye look so much like something we see on a regular basis. Squishy, soft living tissue mimicking solid inanimate objects.

Years later as I learned about eastern religions, physics and psychology I realized that there was more to this than just an odd visual coincidence. From the atomic level up to the infinite, patterns occur over and over. I f you were to press up to a rock face, view it from a few inches you would see something very much like you could see if stand on a hill and scan the horizon. While the patterns do exist outside of our perceptions there is also our desire to see objects we know and to pick out patterns and in a sense assemble varied elements into something we feel more familiar with.

In my paintings I want to confound the natural desire to scale whatever it is you are looking at and stimulate the viewer to become aware of those impulses to make the unfamiliar, familiar. By letting go of this need my hope is the viewer can transcend the impulse to place everything in their own world, letting in other possibilities.

I start these paintings by melting beeswax and pouring it onto a wood panel that is masked around the edges. By manipulating the panel [moving and shaking it] I can achieve a heavily textured surface and have some control over the results. However my intent is to keep the shapes random to not make any direct references and to keep them non-specific. After the panel sits overnight to cool, I then begin laying colors down.

Generally lighter colors will go on first followed with richer and deeper shades. As an overall tone begins to take shape, I will begin to pick out surface features and paint those in a way so they will stand out. Sometimes this will enhance the relief, other times I try to work against it. The color choices will vary between naturalistic and completely artificial. This juxtaposition lends the surface ambiguity and plays against expectations.

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