Mark Licari Essay
#41 Jimi Gleason (Visiting Painting)
#42 Mark Licari (Response Painting)
The crate arrived at my studio and as I opened it there was a flash of light. As I stared into the crate, the lights from the ceiling above reflected back at me. What is it?
A piece of shrapnel from the New Mexican desert?
I hung this chink of alien armor on the wall. What is it made of? Surely not paint or metal, or glass, it could only be an element that somehow escaped the categorization of the periodic table. This element seemed resistant to decay and the harsh desert environment. The scar splitting the center of the panel was curious as the surface seemed to be impenetrable.
I became obsessed with cracking into this surface and getting a glimpse of what might be behind it. Perhaps it was just a matter of time before the super-surface would decay, revealing the secret that it was protecting.
My painting is a glimpse of what lays beneath the mirror like surface, whether it is a portal to an alien homeland, an alternate reality or yet another false front to tear through.