Mark Masyga

Does Shorty (Homer) Have a Torch?

Mark Masyga employs drawing techniques of composed and gestural lines of color, which overlap and intersect to create compelling linear abstract compositions. The sometimes coiled, sometimes kinked contours have a structure to them, which is rendered through the artist's intuitive relationship to color and density. There is a controlled depth to the paintings’ visual surface, while the background creates an endless atmosphere in which the lines take on the feel of objects in space. Masyga's masterful knowledge and background in Color Field painting shows a heightened sense and use of color, which he relates to chance encounters on the canvas. These ‘encounters’ become edited and directed until a harmony and accord is achieved through a complex structure created through layering of lines and boundaries of color. Mark Masyga received his MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and currently lives and works in New York. The recipient of the Edward F. Albee award, Masyga has participated in residencies in Montauk, New York, Skowhegan, Maine, and was featured in the PS 1 Studio Visit Program. Mark Masyga has exhibited extensively in New York and Nationally. He is represented by Front Room Gallery in New York.