MARCOS MARIN

1967. Brazil

Marcos Marin

A painter, graphic artist and sculptor, Marcos Marin produces works that combine figurative and abstract strategies. His best known series are portraits of celebrities and historical artwork masterpieces, manipulated with lines and optical effects that result in an interesting game with the viewer, who perceives different perspectives in one single work, which the artist describes as the search for the “fourth dimension”. Marin continues the experiments in grids, pixilation and perception initiated by the late Dalí or Chuck Close. Departing from a photograph of a celebrity, he creates a trompe l’oeil whereby at close range the piece resembles an abstract work of vertical or diagonal lines, shapes and colors, while from afar it becomes a recognizable character. More recently he has been incorporating classic architectural monuments and landscapes in his work.

Marin was trained as a pianist and moved at an early age to Paris, where he met Victor Vasarely at the Cité des Arts in 1990, becoming immediately interested in Op Art. During the 1990s he developed his practice and received several awards, such as the FIAT Columbus award, and his work was incorporated in the Phillips collection. In 2000 he moved to Miami Beach, to soon return to Europe, where most of his collectors are. He has been commissioned to create official monuments in Monaco and France, such as the portrait of Princess Grace for the Musée du Monaco and the official monument for Prince Rainier III in the city. Has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide, at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach or the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California and the National Museum of São Paolo, in Brazil. Marin lives in Monaco.