White Owl, 24″ x 24″
Marcus Cain’s exhibit Soft Bones at Sherry Leedy Gallery in Kansas City until August 16, 2009. From Cain’s artist statement: “A cloaked and camouflaged figure, a beast whose feet no longer touch the ground, celestial parasitic twins and other images are gradually coaxed from floating and colliding pools of paint. As their forms suggest, their bones are soft and pliable or missing altogether amidst environments of drifting color and fog. These environments play host to a narrative of process, while bubbling up from their depths are ruminations on vulnerability, the gain and loss of shifting identity, and things often mentioned yet seldom seen.”
All works are from 2009 and described as acrylic, graphite, ink, latex and watercolor on wood panel.
Soft Bones, 24″ x 24″
Celestial Parasitic Twin, 12″ x 12″
Skin of Self Reflection, 12″ x 12″
Low Clouds, 12″ x 12″
Stay the Same, 12″ x 12″
MW Capacity 
I’d like to see if I can spark a discussion here as well. What I’m curious about, is the role of doubt in the artistic process. Relevant here, with Cain’s statement talking about embracing an element of chance and using process as metaphor in this body of work. And that being a new thing for him.
It’s disheartening to swing through the galleries (here or anywhere) and see too much work that looks like product. “This is what I do and here are 10 of them.” And nice to see work that shows some hint of the artist’s awareness of the doubtful value of whatever they’re up to, and the struggle to imbed a worth into. And that’s what I kind of see Cain addressing here.
But I’m curious about other artists’ relationship to doubt, insecurity and finding value through the making.
A line from a documentary called “Who the #$&% Is Jackson Pollock?” has stuck with me. The film is about authenticating a potential Pollock painting bought at a garage sale and someone examining the painting points out that the it doesn’t “fail” like a real Pollock. He could tell it was an impostor because it was too perfect, there was no insecurity, no exploration.
Risk-taking is humbling because you have to subvert your ego which is telling you to make something perfect that everyone will love. I especially see it in beginning students who want to show off their drawing skills but never step outside their comfort zone and in turn don’t make as much progress as students who don’t care what their drawing looks like. The riskier students end up with something more intense and honest, if not pretty.
The title/concept is interesting.
Chris, do you ask the the doubt thing because the potential old-school heroism of these is kind of negated by joke-y content? Without seeing them in person I can’t be sure, but it seems like the punning makes them somehow safer.
Tangent: a lot of these would make pretty rad album covers.