MARCEL MARIËN

Marcel Mariën was the original joker. Involved with the surrealist movement from a young age (17), he worked tirelessly to amuse and provoke the artists and public around him. I am interested in the way in which he pairs his sense of anarchic and idiosyncratic humour with more conceptual depth - often commenting on themes of sexuality, religion and politics within the work. As well as this, his focus on the immediacy of ideas and imagery as opposed to technical capabilities is something that I feel my own artistic ethos has parallels with - hence a focus on found objects, media imagery, collage and ready made items.