Art Talk
Marnie Weber at Pasadena City College
Hunter Drohojowska-Philp talks about Twisted Refrain: The Work of Marnie Weber
By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp • • 3m Listen“Send in the clowns… Don’t bother, they’re here.” Nodding to Sondheim, clowns abound in Marnie Weber’s art, most recently in her exhibition as artist-in-residence at Pasadena City College. Clowns are mostly appealing and Weber uses that appeal in complex, absurd and emotionally-involving sculpture and painted collages.
Spirits of the Birch, 2019 15 x 20 inches paper collage and acrylic paint Courtesy of the artist and Gavlak Los Angeles
Titled “Twisted Refrain,” the show evolved from her earlier series on the Spirit Girls, which was both the name of Weber’s all girl rock band for a while and the subject of a film loosely based on tales of love and adventure in the Old West. Some of those themes have reemerged but now the stories are set in the Dust Bowl of the Great Recession.
Twisted Refrain installation, Courtesy of the artist and Gavlak Los Angeles
At the Boone Gallery, you are greeted by a mannequin of Weary Willie, the popular bearded clown character created by Emmett Kelly in the 1930s that reflected the hopelessness and heroic humor of that era. “Pack up your troubles in an old kit-bag and smile, smile smile.” He stands frowning and forlorn in his patched clothes.
The Great Clown Head Rescue, 2008 34 x 34 x 60 Mixed media Courtesy of the artist and Gavlak Los Angeles
In the gallery corner, a bunch of clown heads are mounded into a wheel barrow. For another sculpture, Weber attached a grinning clown’s head atop an armless beefcake torso with a skirt of broken colored glass. On his chest hangs an old china plate painted with the demonic face of a clown and a worried young girl.
The Nocturne, 2019 8 x 10 inches paper collage and acrylic paint Courtesy of the artist and Gavlak Los Angeles
To make them, she cuts around the outlines of photographs her own masks and figures, then arranges the pieces on her hand- painted backgrounds. The effect is as eerie as its subject matter. Each is special and brings into the present the meaning of early 20th century Surrealism.
The Crystal Conjuring, 2018 62 x 42 inches Acrylic paint and ink jet collage on paper Courtesy of the artist and Gavlak Los Angeles
Educated as an artist, Weber initially found her calling by playing bass in a garage rock band The Party Boys. After years of recording and touring in the 1980s, she returned to making art but integrated it with her own performances with her band.
