Marshall K. Harris
The art of Marshall Harris is best described as autobiographic. Most of his works are larger than life, just like the artist, and each is infused with an obsessive attention to detail, technique, quantity and quality. Harris’s skill set is vast. He is an innovator, a spiritual and rich thinker, and most compelling of all, he makes things. All kinds of things. From his hyperrealistic drawings that are complex and detailed, conjured up with graphite on Mylar, to the completely vacant and quiet emptiness of his Stripped Naked and Numbered sculpture series, Harris’s work proves to be black, white and everything between.
Harris's drawings, at times, span beyond one hundred inches in width and present the most photographically impossible details. He offers works he has tediously drawn and colorized in the negative format, only to then digitize them, in order to reverse the negative to create a new positive image. And if his technical ability were not enough, he has content — truly deep, thought-provoking content. He is not afraid to be confrontational. He is not afraid to make a statement. He is not afraid to stand for something. But even in this confrontation, a softness still emerges.
Marshall Harris is an artist who looks closely at things for all of us. An artist who reminds us that we are often not looking at things at all. It is this reminder that carries the impact and the weight in Harris’s work. Regardless of subject matter, he invites and challenges you to see both what he sees and what you see for yourself. Harris's work is a reminder to stop, to breathe, to pay attention, and to notice the details right in front of you.
Born in Texas, Harris received his B.F.A from TCU in 1979 and his M.F.A in sculpture from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA in 2010. Following a career in the National Football League from 1980-86, Harris turned his attentions towards creative vocations including Museum Curator, Graphic Designer and Exhibit Designer for zoos and aquaria and finally fine artist in 2006. His work has been exhibited nationally and is held in corporate and private collections. Harris was the recipient of the 2013 Hunting Art Prize.