Donna Marcus is interested in the narratives that viewers often create around works because of the familiarity with the objects employed in the work and the memory of previous usage.
Read MoreMarcus collects post-war 1950’s and 60’s aluminium kitchenware: teapots, saucepan lids, jelly and cake moulds, steamers, colanders, using both anodized and un-treated aluminium in her sculpture. This process of collecting and recycling is integral to the making of the work. She quips that her art practice requires a critical mass of aluminium. And there is a great love for the material these obsolete objects were made from. The individual stories in the dents, scratches and patinas. Reconfiguring these discarded objects of domesticity Marcus re-makes beautiful and complex pieces. New stories which change the whole way the components are read. As an early inspiration, Marcus cites the French artist Sonia Delaunay whose first abstract work came from knitting a wool blanket for her son.
Marcus’ work speaks about the commonality of human experience and offers a comment on the state of contemporary sculpture.
Donna Marcus earned a PhD at Monash University, Melbourne, 2006 and a Master of Arts (Visual Arts), City Art Institute (University of New South Wales) 1988. In 2009 Marcus was commissioned by Brisbane City Council to create a work for Brisbane City Square. She was also commissioned by King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In 2010, Marcus was the Queensland representative for the Australian Pavilion, World Expo Shanghai. Her work is now part of the New Contemporary Art Museum collection soon to be completed in Nanjing, Jiangsu. Marcus' work has been acquired by a number of prominent art collections including: Artbank, Ballarat University, Ballarat Regional Art Gallery, Brisbane City Hall Collection, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Griffith University, Kunst von Frauen in der Sammlung Ulla Pietzsch, Berlin, Parks Victoria Pat Corrigan Power Ombudsman of Victoria, Sale Regional Gallery and William Dobell Foundation.
