Conrad Marca-Relli

Cristobal

Conrad Marca-Relli first delved into collage—the technique he is currently best known for—after a trip to Mexico in the 1950s. Fussing dissimilar materials into compositions that first referenced the rising and receding planes of the built environment and later became completely abstract, Marca-Relli developed a distinct pictorial language that partook in the turn towards abstraction of the late 1940s and early 1950s. As the artist stated: “Collage for me is not study, diversion, or experiment. Instead, it has become my painting form.” Arranged in coarsely overlaid planes of color and visually riveted to the background, the strips of painted vinyl that make up the work recall industrial subjects such as the sidings of cargo ships or airplanes. The title itself references the 1898 shipwreck of the Spanish vessel Cristobal Colón and, by extension, the complicated history of the Genoese explorer.