Marlene Struss

I'm a California girl, agnostic product of Catholic schools, and inveterate artist. My art degree is from University of California at Santa Barbara, where I am blessed to still be. Since college I've created bodies of work in pastel, surrealistic collage, abstract collage, digital painting and acrylic painting at present. I've shown mostly locally but have branched out as far as Russia and England and my work has appeared in several international art books. I'm represented by the Corridan Gallery and the 10 West Gallery, both in Santa Barbara. My work can also sometimes be seen, if you're looking for it, on television shows such as The Catch, The Big Bang Theory, and Man with a Plan, Mom, Ballers, Lucifer, Ballers, Gray's Anatomy, N.C.I.S. LA, as well as some commercials.

My painting for a while now has been about the magnificence and mystery of nature. I call it biomorphic abstract expressionism. Color is the primary element I focus on, and the image unfolds as I experiment with unusual applicators and methods of putting down and removing acrylic paint of varying viscosities. I don't think about drawing; I wait to see what happens, which allows for striking and surprising organic patterns and designs, but requires restraint. My preference for universes and universal themes, as opposed to singular objects and events, and for passage of time rather than moment in time is obvious in the intuitive esthetic choices I make for each fenestrated layer of color. My goal is to present beauty, balance, color harmony, interest, and vitality — as an antidote for the anxiety of the manmade world.