My favourite works from Marci Washington are obtuse glances that appear to be specimens from an Edwardian murder mystery showing the suspects, the crime scenes, and the objects involved. Though apt, that is still oversimplification and only scratches the surface of Marci's work which hints at much more in the dark spaces between.
Growing up in California, Marci Washington attended the California College of Arts & Craft where she received her BFA in 2002. She's currently pursuing her MFA and CCA while building her collection of work and exhibiting.
SIOUXFIRE: How would you say work has progressed since graduating from the California College for the Arts in 2002? And has anything surprised you in regard to your work in this time?
MARCI: I think that there are still some things from then in my work now, and I think I’m interested in making art for the same reasons that I was back then, but I hope that the paintings are technically better, as well as more developed in terms of the story I’m telling. When I was in school I wasn’t very interested in narrative, but now the story that connects all of the paintings is a really important part. The paintings are like hints toward the bigger story.
The really weird thing for me now is how I spent so much time trying to get away from these dark gothic kinds of tales just to end up totally immersed in them. I used to be worried that people would just think that I was some super melodramatic goth girl (which I totally was), but now I know that it would be kind of silly to discount something that has always had such a huge impact on me. So now I paint all the dark melodrama I want.
SIOUXFIRE: To me, your work has a hint of folk art and Erte with a hint of David Lynch thrown in; how would you describe your work as a whole?
MARCI: I think of my work as illustrations for a novel that doesn’t exist. I borrow tons from the romantic gothic novel and from old bookplate illustration. I’m also super influenced by film. My paintings are kind of between bookplates and film stills.
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