Art Teleported 2023
3-A Gallery, CICA Museum
January 18 – 22, 2023
2023.01.18 – 22
Longing for Home: Building a Bridge To a Grandmother I Never Met
Sharpe’s exhibition, Longing for Home: Building a Bridge To a Grandmother I Never Met, consists of 10 acrylic-on-paper paintings depicting the life of his grandmother, Nancy Morgan. Because Nancy died before he was born, the paintings are an attempt to connect with an ancestor on the other side. Together, they convey an effort to be grounded in his ancestral roots in the face of growing uncertainty.
Over the last five years, I have moved between five different U.S. states, in five time zones. The process has left me longing for a place to call home. Yet, that sense of security remains elusive. In its place, I use my painting practice to connect with my ancestors on the other side. They provide a source of belonging that sustains me in moments of despair. This body of work focuses specifically on my grandmother whose collection of antique furniture and European paintings ignited my own love for art as a child. By making work about her life, the paintings encompass themes of transient memory, a privileged life, and nostalgia for a relationship that never existed.
Marshall Sharpe, born 1988, is from Greensboro, NC. He is a painter currently based in Saint Louis, MO where he teaches drawing and painting courses at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art. Sharpe earned a Masters of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2020. His creative work focuses on ancestry, identity, and transience.
