10 Questions with Marilina Marchica
Marilina Marchica, born in 1984, was born in Agrigento, where she lives and works. She graduated in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 2008 she trained with Luca Caccioni, Giovanni Mundula and Adriano Bacilieri. Marilina Marchica focuses her research on the theme of subtraction and the aesthetics of the sign.
Her pictorial investigation goes to the limit of abstraction thanks to a reflection on architecture and, in particular, on the wall as an internal/external diaphragm and a metaphor for the relationships between man, nature, and time. The architectures take on a symbolic value in relation to collapses and demolitions and imposes themselves as a metaphor for a universal and existential dimension.
Marilina Marchica has been the protagonist of various personal exhibitions, such as those promoted by the FAM Gallery in Agrigento, San Sebastiano Contemporary - Casa Bramante in Palazzolo Acreide, and Spazio HUS in Milan.
In addition to the site-specific intervention designed for the crypt of the Church of Santa Maria del Piliere in Palermo, we recall the participation in the 2nd edition of the FAM Award - Fabbriche Chiaramontane in Agrigento and in the artist residence at Villa Aurea - Valle dei Templi, promoted by the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage of Agrigento.
In 2021, she was invited to participate in the project "Visioni Oblique, Artist's Books, Object Books, Phototexts for the Belice".
Marilina Marchica's works have been published in sector magazines and volumes such as "The New Collectors Book" (New York, 2015) and are present in public and private collections in Italy and foreign countries, including the Chiaramontane factories of Agrigento and the Museum of Mediterranean Weaves Fondazione Orestiadi of Gibellina.
Marilina Marchica - Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
Marilina Marchica orients her pictorial research on the theme of subtraction; her attention is focused on the aesthetic and conceptual implications of the trace and the material through the investigation and observation of architecture.
Urban architecture takes on a symbolic value. Ruins, houses, demolitions, and collapses are a metaphor for an existential dimension and the relationship between man, nature and time.
Marilina Marchica works inside the ruins, dilapidated houses, in her family's homes now empty and abandoned, and through simple but radical actions, she leaves an ephemeral and non-invasive sign in the landscape, from which she draws symbolic elements which, decontextualized, allow access to another reality, starting from these traces she draws, rereads, traces the finds of a place that has now changed through silicone molding, frottage, collage, décollage, the artist preserves the memory of places abandoned and perforated by time.
In this exploration, the figure loses its sovereignty in favor of the work process. The fragment is the only possible form to rewrite, the fracture is an area of instability and turbulence where to experience fibrillation so from the collapse of the ruins and through the fall, the "Fragment" is born.
The living space thus becomes an infinite possibility of focusing on a form without borders.
For Marilina Marchica, form and matter have become adorable remains of an ephemeral geography, miniature landscapes snatched from oblivion. As the Persian poet Rumi states, "If the form disappears, its root is eternal." aThe purpose of the research is not the form but the reflection that arises from it or around it."
Frammento casa di Famigli, mineral oxide and graphite on old tracing paper project, 80x35 cm, 2022 © Marilina Marchica
INTERVIEW
First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. How did you start getting involved with art? And when did you realize you wanted to be an artist?
My name is Marilina Marchica, and I am a visual artist born in Agrigento, Italy. I started my artistic path with studies at the Art High School in my hometown and then went on to an art degree at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna, graduating in 2008. And 2008 was a very special year. I didn't know which way to go in terms of work, and the end of my studies meant that I had to make choices, so I decided not to choose and moved from Bologna to Spain and Barcelona. In the two years that followed, I put painting aside, along with the very idea that I could work as an artist, and started collecting photographic materials, stories, and notes about the city that was hosting me, without a clear idea of what I was going to do with them. And then one day I learned the story of Plaza de San Felipe Neri, in the historic downtown of Barcelona. A few children were running around, with the backdrop being that Gothic church, and so I saw the surface of its walls chipped and punctured by the bombing of January 30, 1938. This is how I started working on painting again, by not only collecting images and stories but also getting back to drawing and taking notes.
With this, "the wall" as a concept became fundamental to my artistic research. The traces of time that it keeps, as a diaphragm between what is kept inside and what stays outside, a universal dimension, a metaphor for life and its seasons and, consequently, the theme of the fragility of landscape and place.
My work is a research around the relationships between man, nature, and time, between the landscape, the sign, and the trace, through a process of fleshing out the reduction and subtraction of figurative elements. This way, my artwork becomes a container of memories, and day by day, it welcomes events and individuals who leave their marks and change their boundaries and appearance. Once I returned to Sicily, I then developed a clear vision of what I wanted to do, so without thinking about it too much, I continued my ongoing research, influenced by my studies and the places where I've lived but, above all, by my origin and my land.
Frammento, graphite on paper, 30x42 cm, 2021 © Marilina Marchica
Frammento - Casa di Famiglia, charcoal on paper, 63x45 cm, 2022 © Marilina Marchica
You have already had significant experience as an artist, both in terms of exhibitions and publications. What is your favorite experience as an artist so far?
Each experience has left an important mark. The process of creating my artist book Fragments was very important. The production of this book required work among the ruins of Poggio Reale, which became a ghost town after the Belice Valley earthquake of 1968. I worked among the ruins and the abandoned houses, collecting traces, fragments, and stories of a community that was forced to migrate after a natural disaster. This occasion became a moment of reflection on the theme of dwelling and its emotional implications in terms of the relationship between human beings and their home. Seeing it complete after months of work gave me great satisfaction. Fragments is an artist's book created in a limited edition (30 copies), bound and sewn by hand with original wallpaper inserts. Frammenti was created in conjunction with the project Visioni Oblique, curated by Cristina Costanzo.
How would you define yourself as an artist nowadays? What differentiates you from the others?
I don't think that, in 2023, picking a category of self-definition as an artist is necessary. My work could be seen as part of conceptual art or art information, but I don't deem that important. I am a visual artist and practice my research through non-verbal language as it aligns with my sensibility.
Frammento, silicone cast, 43x43 cm, 2022 © Marilina Marchica
In your statement, you mention how you work with subtraction. What does it mean and how does it influence your practice?
The figure loses its sovereignty in favor of the sign and form. I focus on simplicity by eliminating the superfluous and breaking away from the expected canons of figurative painting, adopting a minimalist stylistic code. In this way, the void in the observable space allows viewers to imagine and create their own version of what they see and interpret and understand it in their own way. It can be summed up as "less is more."
Ultimately, what messages do you want to convey with your work?
My research delves into the relationship between Man and Nature and the emotional implications of the relationship between human and dwelling. In this research, the landscape is the protagonist. People today rule over 75% of the land not covered by ice, which has led to modifying and shaping places, ignoring the life-giving forces of nature. The attempts of modern people to appropriate the environment that hosts them are many. The large cities increasingly resemble non-places, complicating the relationship between man and nature that hosts him, but then, in turn, man hosts gardens and parks in cities that are nothing more than reproductions of nature itself, artificially limiting natural spaces through fences. By drawing borders between countries, people build their own houses and cities without consideration of the consequences. The meaning of inhabiting is of a self within a space, but it is also living in that space by shaping it and molding oneself to the space itself. To inhabit is to shape spaces to the extent that we also take our own shape from those spaces. The purpose of Marilina Marchica's research, then, is not the form but the reflection that arises from it or around it in relation to the experience of living.
Where do you get your inspiration from, both visually and conceptually? Are there any artists you particularly look up to?
Nature and urban architecture are a source of reflection for my work. The symbolic value of architecture lies in its natural relationship with the landscape, not only in terms of expansion into urban space but also by virtue of the dialectic between building and demolition, which is an expression of man's relationship with nature through time.
Frammento - Casa di Famiglia, graphite on paper, 63x45 cm, 2023 © Marilina Marchica
Frammento, graphite on paper, 55x75 cm, 2021 © Marilina Marchica
Tell us more about your creative process. What are the steps that lead you to the final work?
Due to the nature of my research, always devoted to the investigation of places in the making and of hybrid forms, it is necessary to change scenery frequently. For this reason, I leave, for a few weeks at a time, my studio located in an ancient building in the historic center of Agrigento and go to work in different physical environments. These could be abandoned houses, uninhabited architectural spaces, or actual ruins that all host the germinal phase of my works. So they arise from a reflection on the topic of ruin and from the exploration of these places, where I devote myself to collecting traces, fragments, and papers from heterogeneous parts and materials capable of giving form and substance to the dialectic between the fragility of matter and the fragility of existence.
In the transition between inhabited and uninhabited space, these places become a temporary extension of my studio. During this second phase of my working process, I feel the urgency to return to the studio, which becomes not only a container of memories but also the space where I collect residual materials and where I experiment with processes of working. The various fragments collected outside of my studio, once decontextualized from their places of origin, occupy a space alien to their original environment, and it is precisely this gap that allows me to develop a conceptual parallelism between the material and the landscape. At this stage, my studio, a place par excellence and the space of the artist's habitation, offers me ever new opportunities to focus on a kind of work without boundaries.
You primarily work in black and white and only seldom use colors. Why did you choose this visual language? And how has it evolved over the years?
My work is not solely in black and white. I also use color, but I still keep a minimalist and monochrome aesthetic. While I always use a figurative reference as a starting point, it keeps evolving ever more synthetic and abstract over time.
Frammento - Casa di Famiglia, 160x180 cm, 2023 © Marilina Marchica
Are there other techniques, mediums, or concepts you would like to experiment with?
I always experiment a lot and often use non-conventional materials in my painting practice, such as marble paste, wallpaper, mineral oxides, cement, and silicone. In addition, I would like to get even closer to sculpting processes.
Finally, what are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Is there anything exciting you can tell us about?
My solo exhibition, Fragile Space, concluded this summer. The work process on it was rather challenging, and now, after a short summer vacation, I am back to my work. I am currently at the stage of studying, drawing, and collecting material for the development of a reflection on dwellings and the emotional implications of their relationship to the individual. This is how the inhabited space becomes a miracle and a possibility of crystallization in a limitless form at the intersection of disorientation and cartography.
Artist’s Talk
Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.
