Hashimoto Contemporary is pleased to present Good Love is Hard to Find, a solo exhibition by Oakland-based artist Marbie. Continuing to draw inspiration from her friends and lovers through this collection of vibrant new collages and paintings, this is the multidisciplinary artist’s second solo presentation with the gallery.
Best known as a professional skateboarder with There Skateboards, Marbie’s work bridges the gap between a life in the public eye and one behind closed doors, depicting intimate scenes of solitude or unity. Each piece portrays a character based on people in the artist’s life, who she renders in bold hues, the shapes and colors symbolizing an emotion or mood from a memory she wants to suspend in time. Her newest work focuses on sentiments that surface through the pursuit of romance, “from falling for someone and fantasizing about them to feeling scared or heartbroken.” These works locate a sense of extreme yearning or lust between the characters, who are about to caress one another or find themselves already in the throes of passion.
No stranger to movement in her skateboarding life, Marbie fills each work with motion and gesture, showing the figures jumping, tumbling, dancing, or embracing—an arm, leg, or torso is entwined with another body part. Even alone, the characters seem to swing or leap across the frame, as though the artist has captured them wantonly on the way to their next date. On these recent works, Marbie states she’s “trying to capture all the emotions of dating again, like the dance of trying to impress someone or feeling insecure. Love is fun and scary. It’s tough being vulnerable, but worth it.”
