Carrie Marill is a meticulous artist, sophisticated and considered in her techniques and also in the concepts that underpin each of her artworks and series. Drawing on a broad variety of inspirations, her paintings investigate the definition of ‘high’ Modern art in relationship to craft and folk art; the intricacy of textile compositions in Asian fabrics, American quilts and Native American cultures, images and forms from nature, 18th century European landscapes, Persian miniatures and Japanese screen painting, the rigor of abstraction and hard edged painting, Modernism’s knee-jerk aversion to the idea of decoration, and the elemental pleasures of color and shape. As the artist has remarked: “pattern is an inherent part of my artistic practice, it triggers the creation of new work.”
Painting on raw linen canvas as well as shaped supports, Marill pushes the interplay of formalist elements of line and shape as well as the loose boundary between painting and sculpture. Her knowing and playful work questions the triumphs and shortcomings of recent art history in an attempt to find new forms and meanings.
Marill has an MFA from Cornell University and BA in painting from San Francisco State University. Her work is shown nationally and has been reviewed in New American Paintings, Wired Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Modern Painters, LA weekly and the LA Times.
