Improvisations

In this post we are featuring a few of John Marx’s watercolors and poems from his forthcoming book: ETUDES – The Poetry of Dreams + Other Fragments published by Oro Editions

The works selected for this post focus on the sublime and the notion of origins.

John Marx describes the abstract paintings as “A mad series of dense brushstrokes that compress the emotional energy of painting into one intense burst of unforgiving creativity”, adding that “They represent the other side of our emotional range, the messy paradox of the human condition, of both the darkness and the light that manifest themselves in our inner being.”

Where You Come from Sets a Tone, 2019

I grew up
in the Midwest,
that vast and transient moment
between two precious coasts

In many ways,
not much happens there.
In those rural areas,
people sustain themselves off the land,
and what little that offers

In its own way,
it is also a profoundly beautiful place,
in the quiet elegance of a simple life
in the deep integrity of the people who live there

This was a place to learn to dream
to seek the world that appeared
so far beyond your grasp

On those gentle plains
the pure will of your imagination
can find the extraordinary
by chasing the tumultuous drama of clouds
that pass over
this slow and persistent landscape

– John Marx

Origins, 2019

The Midwest
is a setting

where dreams
of faraway places form,

where the land
will live in your heart

and sustain your destiny
in unpredictable ways.

– John Marx