Suzhou III

Brice Marden is an artist who makes art “as a sounding board for the spirit.” His distinctive artistic style draws on the formal constraints of Minimalism, the emotive power of Abstract Expressionism, and the emphasis on gesture and nature found in his studies of Chinese art across media. Particularly notable are Marden’s interests in Chinese calligraphy and scholars’ rocks: organic sculptures prized by millennia of Chinese literati for their ability to represent a microcosm of the universe, a painting crafted from nature’s own power. 

In Suzhou I–IV, Marden combines various printmaking techniques as he layers one faceted, undulating line over the next. Together, the four prints act as a kind of study of organic shapes from different viewpoints. Just as scholars’ rocks invite us to contemplate space and time, Marden’s prints allow for meditation on the universe through the microcosm of art.