Steel Grey 1959

Conrad Marca-Relli’s 'Steel Grey' is a collage built from canvas fragments, a testament to artmaking as a process of accumulation and repurposing. The palette here is so hushed, a near monochrome of greys and browns, which invites a slow, careful reading. Marca-Relli coaxes out all these subtle gradations from umber to cool slate. Up close you can see the texture of the canvas, the slightly raised edges where one piece overlaps another, the occasional drip or scuff mark. The shapes are like pieces of a puzzle, but a puzzle with no solution, more like a meditation on form and surface. The way the canvas has aged gives it a tactile, almost archaeological feel, like fragments of a forgotten world. This piece reminds me of Schwitters' Merz collages. Ultimately, ‘Steel Grey’ exists in a liminal space, between painting and sculpture, representation and abstraction, where the magic happens!