Marc Dennis

Interested in transformative possibilities Dennis merges various movements throughout the western art historical canon, with modern tropes to create fresh paintings rich with hype, intrigue, and metaphysical inquiry. By co-opting celebrated paintings of centuries past Dennis' works find new meaning in the hallowed lineage of Old Master painting to explore contemporary questions of cultural identity, social interaction, pictorial representation, and the consumption of images.

 

His artistic inspiration is drawn from his personal experiences and many adventures, ranging from accidentally starting a forest fire at age 7, to his days camping in the El Yunque rainforest as a middle-schooler in Puerto Rico to his somewhat troubled teen years, including multiple arrests, knife fights, a gun-related incident, a night in jail, and his day in court, to his highly influential time post-college days living in a teepee on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Wanblee, South Dakota, on the property of Richard Moves Camp, the Wicasa Wakan or Holy Man of the Oglala Lakota. His many adventures and travels include having lived in Israel, Rome, Venice, Florence, and Egypt; and spending three grueling weeks trekking uncharted animal trails in the Andes Mountains in Peru.