Marta Marce

Marta Marcé is a Catalonian born, Berlin-based artist whose work is inspired by both the appearance and the process of games. The shapes, colours and sections of the artist's multicoloured canvases are often arranged and placed much like pieces on a gameboard or puzzle. Marcé (b. 1972 Vilafranca del Penedes, Spain) says:

'My use of games is like a metaphor for the structure and development of life itself, an activity with an uncertain outcome. The act of painting functions in a similar way - there are the boundaries of the canvas, the limitations of paint, the conceptual constraints of actually making a painting, and finally the environment in which they are shown'

This series of new works was inspired by the artist's recent journey to Guatemala, where she learned about Mayan cosmology (the origin of the cosmos) and its symbols, as well as readings of the philosopher and mystic, Ibn 'Arabi.

The Mayan philosophy was believed to have been animatistic, meaning that objects we consider to be inanimate, to the Mayan people, had spirit. Ibn 'Arabi was a 13th century Andalusian Sufi mystic, poet and philosopher who is regarded as one of the world's great spiritual teachers. His writings had an immense impact throughout the Islamic world and beyond. The universal ideas underlying his philosophical thinking are as relevant today as they were when he first wrote them down 800 years ago.

The artist seeks to express a desire, a necessity even, to acknowledge living energy in her work. Marcé's paintings are visual representations of the dialogue between the most basic energy of life and its interconnection to all things. It is a dialogue that the artist believes enhances existence and she seeks to illustrate this through creating works that are shaped by visual rhythms of colour and geometric patterns that are also aesthetically beautiful. The intertwining of symbols within the works represent a type of consciousness - whether it be the artist's, ours or indeed those from so long ago that have echoed across the centuries and inspired this series of new works.