(1976 – )

Marc Standing
Contemporary
Overview

‘Iconic’ and ‘haunting’ are descriptors typically allied to Marc Standing’s paintings. As for their haunting? It stems from the artist’s need to evoke the aberrations of British colonialism in Zimbabwe, formally Rhodesia. This aberrancy, however, is inferred and implicated as a psychic imprint and tonal register in the paintings. This is because there is nothing declamatory, no desire to make art into statement. On the contrary, an animistic force runs through Standing’s depicted worlds, a force that splices nature and culture, history and its refusal, the colonial and pre-colonial, Africa as a zone of imperial extraction and Africa as a primal negatory force.

A congested succulence distinguishes paintings which are as intemperate as they are seductive. The eye dances hither and thither across glutted planes of matter, detail, colour. With titles such as The Third Domain of Life, The Anchoring of the Heart, The Land of Hidden Dreams, we are triggered and thrust into sensorial and unconscious realms. For Standing, after Andre Breton, ‘the imaginary is what tends to become real.’ If subjectivity is critical in the making of a painting, its perceptual field, it is because the artist is intuitively impelled. The vegetal, animal, anthropoid, psychic, are snagged in fervid and delirious compositions. There is no quietude, no repose. Rather, it is unsettlement that reigns, some intimated crisis or disorder, some peculiar and anomalous set of relationships.

Standing’s paintings are pressingly current. They yank us inward, so that our own sense of dread or perplexity loops itself back into the painting. Portentous? Prescient? Perhaps. For there is no doubt that Marc Standing intuits the viewer, senses their unsaid yearning and confusion. A lyric from a song by Buffalo Springfield is fitting:

There’s something happening here but what it is ain’t exactly clear…

Everybody look, what’s going down?

Artist Statement

‘Coming Back To Me’, has been birthed from a personal and rather profound healing experience I had at the beginning of the year. Engaging in the creative process provided me with immense joy, and I believe this is reflected in each piece. For the first time in my painting practice, I embraced the color green, which embarked me on a unique and transformative journey.

Green, often associated with nature, vitality, and growth, became my muse. As I worked with this colour, I found myself traversing through metaphorical jungles and wilderness, witnessing the process of photosynthesis within my own creativity.

This series of paintings is not just an expression of personal healing but a testament to the universal power of nature to restore and rejuvenate, a celebration of the evergreen resilience and beauty of life. I have come back to me and it’s enthralling.

Exhibitions

1976    
Born in Harare, Zimbabwe

Education

1999    
BFA Honors Degree, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Solo Exhibitions

2024    
Coming Back to Me, Toile Blanche, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France

2023   
Land’s End, Montague Contemporary, New York, US

2021    
The Whispering Tongues, Grove Square Galleries, London, UK

2019
Going To The Mountain, Worldly Wicked & Wise Gallery, London, UK
The Oracles, One River School, Portland, Oregon START Fair, ART LABOR Gallery, London, UK Lamina, Raro, London

2018
Sprigg Gallery, London

2016
The Oracles, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
The Eternal Return, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong

2015
The Shadow Men, King Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia

2014
Mystic Bodies, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong

2013
Lost Wonders, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
The Phosphorescence, King Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
The Duchess Of Avon, Trink Tank Tank, Melbourne, Australia

2011
Waking Me Forever, Brenda May Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Group Exhibitions

2025

Volta Basel Art Fair, Graham Contemporary, Basel, Switzerland Brave New World, Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa

2023
African Abstraction 2, Montague Contemporary, New York, US

2022
African Abstraction’, Montague Contemporary, New York, US

2021
Reclaiming Magic, curated by Yinka Shonibare, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Arcadia, Grove Square Galleries, London, UK
Circle: Pollen Collective, 44 Russell St, London, UK

2020
The Colour of Abstraction: New Ways of Seeing, Grove Square Galleries, London, UK

2019
42+1, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
Nou Wave, London, UK
We Must Cultivate Our Garden, The Sixteen Trust, London

2018
Growth, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
Play, Re Centre, London, UK
Paint the Web Pink, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai  

2017
New Space Grand Opening Exhibition, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai New Space Soft Opening Exhibition, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai FLUX, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
10 Years of Love, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China

2016
Fireflowers, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China
Lost Opportunities, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China
Teleportation, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China

2015
Art Index Fair, Art Fitch Alliance, Mumbai, India
New York Now! 015, Factory Arts Project, New York
Glennfidich Art Bar, Sydney Contemporary, Sydney, Australia

2014
Platform for Emerging Artists, Leyden Gallery, London, UK
Dreaming in Color, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai, China
Justice Center Human Rights Art Prize, Sundaram Gallery, Hong Kong
Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, Finalist, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australia Art Athina, Anna Pappas Gallery, Athens, Greece
Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize, Finalist, NAS, Sydney, Australia
Art Athina, Anna Pappas Gallery, Athens, Greece

2013
Wonder Works, The Space, Art HK 2013, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Sovereign Asian Art Prize Exhibition, Finalist, Rotunda Exchange Square, Hong Kong / Espace Louis Vuitton, Singapore Project 13: Jamais Vu, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Looking Forward, King Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Clayton UTZ Art Award, Finalist, Brisbane, Australia

Artist Residency

2019-2017
Artist in residence, Amilla Fushi, Maldives. 2017 Elmo’s House, The Philippines
ART LABOR Gallery residency, Shanghai, China

2015
Artist in residence, One & Only, Maldives
Puebla, Mexico

Important Collections
The Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC The Groucho Club, London, UK
Cathay Pacific Lounge, Hong Kong Artbank, Australia
Private collections worldwide

Featured Artwork
Load More