Marcus McAllister
Wander far in safety
jul 1 - 27, 2025
FIRST WEDNESDAY OPENING: jul 2, FROM 6 - 9PM
ARTICULATE ARTIST TALK: SUNDAY, jul 6, AT 4PM.
NORMAL GALLERY HOURS: TUE - SUN, 12PM - 6PM
FOLLOW US AT BRGALLERY FOR UPDATES AND IMAGES!
Marcus McAllister is a French-American full-time professional artist living in Paris. Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, he received his degree in Fine Arts from Louisiana State University in 1991 and has a prolific output, incorporating mixed-media sketchbooks and acrylic paintings.
The artist’s practice is sketchbook-centred: for thirty-five years, the artist has carried a sketchbook with him wherever he goes, using it as a tool for pulling order from chaos. The sketchbook (currently number 146) organizes random information, digests experiences and memories, ideas and imaginings. The process secretes meaning.
Marcus McAllister’s acrylic paintings are expansions of the sketchbook-generated ideas. His paintings present dream-like depictions of characters and animals, layered with sigils and patterns that tweak their figurative quality. The recognizable forms and figures flirt with symbolism and abstraction to evoke deeper meanings. The artist has a characteristic style that combines fine art, illustration, and mysticism — a quality that transcends time and setting.
I use the individual pages as a template for paintings on canvas. My idea is not to copy the pre-existing drawing, but to use it as a map for exploring formal possibilities of scale and matter. And then I use the current Sketchbook to think through possibilities on pages that in turn give rise to new paintings. Paintings become sketches for new Sketchbook images.” - Marcus McAllister
This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from April Hammock, Hye Yeon Nam, & Nonney Oddlokken. All works from these artists are on view, free of charge, during regular gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun) from July 1 - 27, 2025.