‘Helsinki’ - by Marco Puig - 2025

An original painting by London based artist Marco Puig.

Oil on hessian canvas.

Bespoke double profiled wood frames, with hand-painted marble dust gesso finish.

Dimensions: 54cm x 45cm x 7cm including frame.

 

“My recent work is more emotionally driven and autobiographical. Instead of illustrating a fixed idea, I discover compositions and themes through the act of painting—building, erasing, and reworking the surface over months or even years. I draw on vintage male-nude photography from early-1900s Paris and stills from queer films like Stranger by the Lake. Printed, torn, and paint-splattered, these images lie across my studio floor and serve as spontaneous references as each painting evolves.”

Born in 1972, Marco Puig currently lives in London. 

 

Lately, Puig’s art focuses on small works with a single man in abstract settings or amongst a coppice of trees. These figures pose in a mythical, pastoral paradise, or in strangely ambiguous interiors. They may be cruising or simply inhabiting an Arcadian scene. The abbreviated form suggests the artists particular interest in the sun's dissolving effect on the solid form and its unifying power of colour and space. Although not always specifically pictured, the sun is a major presence in the works, its ability to drain variations in colour from illuminated areas and heighten the contrast of shady places outside its reach.

 

He also suggests its ability to thwart the viewer’s perception of detail in the figures themselves and its flattening and abstracting effect. In some paintings, Puig moves further towards abstraction, where trees become mere shapes and the inverse space around them takes hold and dominance.

 

Puig also explore these narrative themes in his "Velvet Works." Gigantic swathes of material are collaged together into intricate auto biographical designs, evoking memories of travels and personal events. Regardless of the material he employs, Marco Puig adheres to a consistent process where the materials wield their authoritative influence, guiding the trajectory of each piece.

 

This process; scratching, dissolving, or painting over surfaces, manifests and are proudly displayed in the final compositions. These culminating works, often developed over months, stand as testaments to the artistic journey itself.

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