Grey Cube Gallery proudly presents the second Black & White online art show for the month of April 2021. The show encompassed a range of artistic styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, photography, digital, graphite, pencil, charcoal, scratchboard, collage and etching). Each submission has been judged based on the following elements of artistic expression: orginality and quality of art, overall design, creativity, interpretation of the theme, demonstration of artistic ability and usage of medium. Out of all entries, 126 artworks were shortlisted for inclusion in the show. The competition attracted entries from many countries across the world: USA, Canada, Germany, Taiwan, Russia, Austria. Australia, Belgium, Portugal, Ukraine, Italy. Enjoy the show and thank you for expressing an interest in our competition.

My body of work is highly populated with wildlife art. But, traveling and birding in pursuit of new reference material in the last few years, I have discovered work boats on the Texas coast as a new source of inspiration. These boats, whether individually or in groups, presents the challenge of capturing a multitude of lines and shapes, patterns and textures, in a visually pleasing arrangements. Having done some sailing with my husband, I know and understand many of the surfaces and textures of these boats: coiled rough ropes, slick polished guards and rails, crusts and algae coating the hull.

These drawings are intended as portraits based on identity. Portraiture hinges on the question of whom deserves to be shown. Beginning with religious and royal iconography, produced under systems of patronage, portraits were meant to immortalize the divine, powerful, and wealthy. However, what it means to make a portrait — its subject, form, method, and medium — has expanded beyond those previous confines. There has been a democratization of both subject matter, and practitioners. In reconceptualizing many of the old categories, as well as ushering in a variety of new ones, successive generations of artists have interrogated our received images of race, class, beauty, gender, sexuality. These portraits are meant to examine mortality and vitality as a currency in our contemporary culture.

Landscapes are being abused; either by ignorance or indifference. The Landscape, Memory and Bone series of archival, digital prints,hand drawn with only the mouse and a few added photo elements, shows enigmatic, breakable and dying landscapes. With this fragile environment, marks and organic forms grow intertwined and unpredictable. Layers of textural surface become deeper and richer as they are drawn, then erased, worked, then reworked, constructed and then deconstructed. Each piece has changed dramatically from start to finish. Allowing for serendipity, the compositions were left open and flexible, for as long as possible, as to not force the work in any one direction.This allowed for growth and surprise.

Art has been a part of Marc's DNA since birth. His mother, a New York-based artist, sculptor, and teacher, continually exposed him to the world of galleries and museums, between their home in SoHo and summers spent in Provincetown, MA. He began practicing early, attending high schools specializing in art and summer workshops in Provincetown, and studying in art history in Florence, Italy. In 1971 he enrolled at The Philadelphia College of Art, initially as a painter but ultimately graduating with a BFA Film in 1976. He studied under photographer Ray K. Metzker, whose “composites” — large-scale assemblages of printed film strips — have remained a major influence throughout his career. Upon graduating, Marc worked as a location scout and assistant cameraman on commercials and industrial shorts. He flourished in this field, rising within a few years to become a renowned director's rep and executive producer, representing award-winning photographers, production companies, and feature film directors for TV ad campaigns. In 1986, Marc founded CAM, an international production company specializing in music videos, shorts, and TV commercials. Throughout this professional period painting and photography remained a strong passion for him, and he continued to practice and attend night classes to refine his craft.