MICHAEL MARKOWSKY, April 3 to 13, 2008, Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary
"Melon Truck on the road to Giverny"
Michael Markowsky, "Melon Truck on the road to Giverny," 2007, oil on canvas.
MICHAEL MARKOWSKY
Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary
April 3 to 13, 2008
Jill Sawyer
While art can often be dangerous, the practice of making art is rarely death-defying. Michael Markowsky may prove that theory wrong with his latest series of drawings and paintings which he calls “Driving Artworks.” Originally created on a sketch pad while Markowsky drove the freeways of Los Angeles, he quickly reconsidered that technique and enlisted friends to do the driving while he sketched from the passenger seat (or in some situations, while strapped to the top of his car). Remember that this is California, where anything goes. And the technique is not completely unusual — contemporary artist and envelope-pusher Matthew Barney recently completed a series of artworks sketched on the outside hull of a boat while he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. The results of Markowsky’s efforts make up a series of Impression-istic and very colourful scenes that move with a lightness and freedom that easily suggests the open road. Originally from Calgary, where he graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 1999, Markowsky also attended Cooper Union in New York and the Royal College of Art in London before getting his MFA at the Art Center in Pasadena, California. Since then he’s been living and working in southern California, where the freeway systems and scenic drives provide an endless source of inspiration.
Represented by: Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary