Mark Todd welcomed Matt Groening, Johnny Ryan, the Claytons, students and faculty from Art Center Pasadena in a show that featured a 6’ fireworks stand. “Power Fury,” the fireworks stand’s title, is a walk in, walk up, walk around art construction featuring 4 illustrative panels, signage and a variety of paper mache fireworks. Inspired by boyhood memories, Mark’s vision for “Power Fury” captivated all in attendance and beckons invitation to all to take a trip and check out the complete show now on display until the end of July at La Luz de Jesus.
Mark Todd’s larger works visually articulate a language that is often hard to understand at first glance. The enticement is the familiar, comic heroes reinvented, deconstructed, expanded and abstracted into a brightly painted assembly. One of my favorites in the exhibit, “No Mere Words,” is a graphic deconstruction and painted mainly black and white on a large wood panel, 40.5 x 60.5.” This modern reinterpretation reveals the words NO MERE WORDS on three lines, reversed out of a varied cast of super heroes, villains and heroines who look to be melting and appearing to be dripping down the panel surface.
On a much smaller scale, “Duster,” (6.75 x 10.25,” above/left), presents the construction and assemblage of found objects, comic artifacts, silk-screen, painted smear and the pubescent obsession of comic book collecting. The 3-dimensional component of web weaving is a nice touch and creates an organic component that promotes viewer imagination and “What if?” imaginings.
Mark Todd’s “Force Field” is now on display at the La Luz de Jesus gallery in Hollywood presenting 18 paintings and fireworks stand installation. It is a show that exemplifies the next step in a new chapter of the art of Mark Todd and a new language for the deconstruction and abstraction of classic super heroes.
Enjoy your holiday with family and friends and check out Mark Todd’s “Force Field” interview here, as well as his last exhibit Juggernaut Interview and Juggernaut Art History.