Bruce Marsh, a painter and longtime resident of Ruskin, will have an exhibit of his artwork, hosted by the School of Art and Art History in the University of South Florida (USF) College of The Arts, through Thursday, September 7. The exhibit is featured in the Carolyn M. Wilson Gallery, located at 3801 USF Holly Dr., FAS 100 in Tampa.
The exhibit is called Bruce Marsh – A Six Decade Survey. The exhibition will feature over four dozen oil paintings and watercolors that will trace his career from 1963 when he was in California, where he grew up and attended University of California, Santa Barbara, to the present in Ruskin, where he paints almost daily in his studio on the Little Manatee River.
Marsh was invited to teach at USF in 1969. He retired in 2003 as a professor emeritus. The exhibition will trace themes and threads of ideas and concepts that have been an interest and focus for Marsh for six decades.
Marsh’s paintings are thought out. They are intellectual and they are visceral. His works stimulate all the senses. The exhibition will demonstrate that Marsh is a painter’s painter, meaning that he is committed to the process of painting as well as to all that goes on before putting the paint to canvas — the thinking and planning, the strategy, the invention and the intuitive response to an idea, a subject or a concept.
Paintings in the exhibition demonstrate Marsh’s interest in many themes, including the landscape and particularly the land around Ruskin that has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. He made annual trips to Utah between 2005 and 2010. The rock formations and light inspired him to make paintings that encourage us to question our ideas about perception. A cabin in the woods pushed him in other directions and experiments.
In looking closely at Marsh’s works from the past 60 years which were chosen for this exhibition, you can appreciate the subtle refinement of Marsh’s approach. When looking at the paintings, see how Marsh pays attention to the edges in his brushwork. You can see the balance he maintains in contrasts of dark and light in each area of the composition.
Marsh said, “No part is more important. Each has the same energy and each mark creates the total integration.”
The gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
For more information, please visit www.art.usf.edu and https://brucemarsh.net.
