Marc Katano

Fascinated by the process of mark making, Marc Katano explores the translation of gesture into line in his abstract paintings and prints. Since the 1970s, he has been placing canvas, wood, and handmade paper onto the floor and layering them with washes and strokes of pigment. He begins by dipping his hand into inks and acrylics, using his fingers to brush rhythmic patterns onto the blank ground. He then applies translucent washes of paint over these patterns, over which he drips delicately rendered lines using a bamboo rod. The resulting compositions are full of bold and delicate marks recalling flower petals and leaves. At heart, Katano’s work is an investigation of calligraphy, as he describes: “Though my compositions are organic in form, they are inspired…by the physicality of human expression, as made manifest in the precise motions of Japanese calligraphy.”