The bedroom has a
similar layout: a simple
white low-set bed with side
tables and two large canvases on opposite
sides of the space. One is filled with straight
black-and-white brush strokes, and the
other is more chaotic, with specks of neon
paint peeping through the white and black
paint smear, topped off with twine stuck on
top. You could look at it for hours.
“I want to make something that surprises
me,” the artist said. “The most difficult part
is recognizing when the work is finished,
because the nature is such that one could
continue just on one canvas but that would
not very fulfilling to me. I need to see a result
at some point.”
The kitchen also serves as a display room.
One wall features a large canvas with more
leather jacket pieces. The opposite wall is
covered in smaller abstract works covered
in found materials. The kitchen used to
double as his physical studio before he got
a space of his own. Now, his studio is only a
short walk away.
His studio is a behind-the-scenes view into
Markwith’s creative process. The modest
space is an art teacher’s dream: the shelves
are stocked with supplies and boxes are bursting
with materials in every corner.
“I get ideas from the materials, so the
materials are directly related to what’s produced,”
he said. “It’s a studio practice. It’s
something like with yoga — you commit to
doing it and you have to spend time in the
studio. The work’s always developing.”
You can catch some Markwith originals today,
right around the corner in Long Island
City at Plaxall Gallery from Sept. 8 to Oct.
12. Two new pieces of his, “Orange Void”
and “Quadruple Void,” will be shown.
50 SEPTEMBER 2 0 1 9
Photos: Estelle Pyper/BORO
INTERIOR DESIGN