A monograph centered on a series of recent oil paintings on linen by Calvin Marcus, that depict magnified renderings of the artist's flesh, extending Marcus's investigation of media, process, and the abject in the familiar.
This publication accompanies the first institutional solo exhibition of Calvin Marcus in Europe, organized by Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in 2025. At its core is the recent series Skin Paintings, in which Marcus approaches the human figure as a fragile and mutable surface. Oscillating between corporeality and estrangement, recognition and abstraction, these paintings reveal an artist continually pushing the boundaries of figuration. The publication features an extensive essay by Damian Lentini and a foreword by Goedele Bartholomeeusen. It also brings together the complete Skin Paintings series in a carefully designed volume.
Calvin Marcus (born 1988 in San Francisco, lives in Los Angeles) works serially, creating stylistically distinct bodies of work that probe unsettling subjects, both psychic and social, across a variety of media. For each new suite, Marcus develops unique material processes. His exhibitions confront viewers with tightly-constructed panoramas and maze-like displays, heightening his works' uncanny effect.
