Skillfully combining optical color blending with perspective line work, his painting techniques result in very three-dimensional forms, which echo the anatomy of architecture and microcosmic structures of biology.
MARS-1 paints from a penetrating perspective of great depth. Viewers are drawn into his imaginative compositions, overflowing with colorful geometric and organic shapes, layered to form unique patterns and textures.
The artist's signature style of vast, abstracted, quasi-extraterrestrial-looking landscapes features imagery of surreal distortions contained within spherically convex transparent bubbles. Skillfully combining optical color blending with perspective line work, his painting techniques result in very three-dimensional forms, which echo the anatomy of architecture and microcosmic structures of biology.
These 3-D qualities transcend into his sculptural work, as well. Mars-1's distinctly individual aesthetic is not easily compared to the vision of his contemporaries or artists from past movements. His constantly evolving process continues to expand with each new series of work.
The themes explored range from very scientific to more esoteric phenomena. From theoretical physics, metamorphosis, and collective consciousness, to ufology and examining possibilities of otherworldly principles, the relative link between physical and life sciences are applied throughout. Transitional energies, natural multiplicity, helixes, and spontaneous biological occurrences all come together, forming imagery with hypotheses beyond the scope of modern technology.
Made in Berkeley, California, at the Artworks Foundry, I utilized a mixture of modern and ancient techniques to create the bronze sculptures. Three of the sculptures are reminiscent of molecules, while the fourth takes on the shape of a Torus energy field. They were first designed using 3D Printing and then transformed into the sculptures you see here using the ancient "lost wax" technique, a technique pre-dating the Bronze Age (3,700 B.C.E.).
Each sculpture has a very detailed design inspired by sacred geometry and the ancient language of hieroglyphics. The designs are meant to invite the viewer to invoke the feeling of lost or unknown technologies of worlds before us. This juxtaposition of old and new informs the objects, playfully straddle the mental and material realms.
To see more of Mars-1’s work please visit his website and follow him on Instagram.
Exhibition History
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014 Toward a Distant Dawn, Martha Otero Gallery Los Angeles, CA
2011
Everything Under The Sun, FFDG Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Afterglow, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Infinite Tapestry, Meta Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2009 Nuclear Mystic, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Nature of time, VPF Cream Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2007 Aerodynamics for Psychonauts, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Quantum Reality, Low Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004 Solo show, Magic Pony Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2003 Alien Jigsaw - Mars, C-Pop Gallery, Detroit, MI
2002 Solo show, Recon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Suggestivism, CSUF Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana ,CA
2010 Fecal Face 10 Year Anniversary Show, The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco,CA
2009
The Vader Project, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Group Exhibition, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2008
MapMakers, Meta Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Mental and Material Realms, 2 person exhibit, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Made In America, Choque Cultural Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2006
Mescalito, 3 person show, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Natural and Unnatural: Imagining Landscape, Group show, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ Unusual Locations , 2 person show, Lineage Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
West Coast Windows, Group show, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
BMG Artist's Annual, Group show, Blk/Mrkt Gallery, Culver City, CA
2005
CONVERGENCE, Group show, The Showroom NYC, New York, NY
Fork in the Road, 4 person show, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY
Isotopic Simulation, 2 person show, Lineage Gallery, Burlington, VT
Pop Pluralism, Group show, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY
2004
Sleeps with Fishes, 3 person show, Skeleton Art Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Space Case, David Choong Lee & Mars-1, Compound Gallery, Portland, OR
2003
Sama Sama, Art auction, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Subspecies, Group show (curator: Mars-1), Recon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The New Mission School, Group show/panel discussion, The Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA Mars SF, Poor Al LA, Group show, A.D. Gallery, San Jose, CA
2002
Super Hero, Group show, New Image Art Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
Concrete Frontier #2, Group show, Culture Cache Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 Concrete Frontier, Group show, Culture Cache Gallery, San Francisco, CA