And The Word Was God Daniel Marosi NEW WORKS
REV. JORGE A. SARDIÑAS GALLERY
This catalog is published in conjunction with the art exhibtion
And The Word was God on view at the Rev. Jorge A. Sardiñas Gallery at St. Thomas University. Miami Gardens, May 2022 Copyright © Daniel Marosi All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the artist taking part in the exhibition And The
Word was God and the publisher. The artist retains intellectual property rights regarding their artwork.
Published by St. Thomas University, Miami Gardens, Florida Rev. Jorge A. Sardiñas Gallery St. Thomas University 16401 NW 37th Avenue Miami Gardens, Florida 33054 305.628.6769 instagram.com/sardinasgallery
First Printing June 2022
Guest Curator Dainy Tapia Gallery Director Isabel Medina Exhibition Catalog Design Creative Order Design Studio
Special Thanks to
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And The Word Was God Daniel Marosi NEW WORKS June - September 2022
REV. JORGE A. SARDIÑAS GALLERY
“Like failed signs, my attempts at living the Gospel are sometimes redacted, obscured, and eliminated by forces that only expose my imperfect humanity.”
Daniel Marosi is a painter, a contemporary artist, a
formal training and practice as a graphic designer;
man of this time, and a man of faith. As suggested
his living in Homestead, Florida, a suburban and
in his quote above, Daniel lives his faith actively
agricultural area in the southernmost part of
searching for signs and questioning them.
Miami-Dade County; as well as his biblical studies
As most of us during the quarantine and extended
as part of his Evangelical faith.
Covid-19 pandemic, Daniel found himself confined
The first, because graphic designers are always
and confronted with his life and work. He has been
concerned with the legibility of text, for which they
thinking about words and text in Art for a while. His
must consider font type, size, spacing, and more.
earlier works were primarily figurative paintings
The second, because while living in Homestead for
that flirted with abstract expressionist elements,
several years, in 2013, Daniel started photographing
manifested in blurred or undefined backgrounds
hand-painted, ‘hastily made’ signs for fruit stands
and loosely defined human figures, as in his
that, even if non conforming to graphic design
Swimmers and Beach series. Text had been finding
best practices, were attractive, effective, and
its way into these figurative works little by little.
most of all authentic. The third relates to living
The confluence of three aspects of his life probably
and understanding the Christian faith, which has
had the most influence on his interest in text: his
much to do with repeatedly reading scripture and
Daily Bread 2021 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 48 in
being able to decipher its meaning, which could sometimes be confounding, especially in older Bible versions, such as the King James version of his youth. He first made sense of his musings about text and signs in 2018. Around that time, he wrote his MFA Thesis, which resulted in his sculptural piece “Freeway Ends.” In this piece, CNC routed MDF panels in the form of street and highway signals combine common traffic navigation commands with wisdom from the Bible. These made-up signals are not at all clear. They are presented carelessly piled on top of each other, against the wall, and on the floor, so “specific directives are obscured, questioning their meaning and legitimacy as official code.” This piece is now part of the permanent collection at the Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator at FIU. Probably around that same time, or a bit earlier, the not uncommon tribulations that come with raising a teenage daughter found Daniel and his wife needing a little extra guidance and encouragement. As a very authentic and organic response, Daniel started painting some of his favorite and what he thought most helpful bible verses into small, repurposed canvases, placing them around the house. They had phrases such as “Do to others as
you would like them to do to you” (Luke 6:31) or “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). But differently to the inspirational quotes one might find at home stores, he painted these signs in ‘graffiti’ style. They were done quickly, using multiple, vibrant colors, much like the writing on walls around urban areas. Those small inspirational works were the seed for the work we see in this exhibition. In 2020, with more time to spend at his home studio and having his younger daughters as studio companions while they did their Kindergarten homework, Daniel found himself inspired. He started imitating that looseness and apparent disregard for rules that both a learning kid and the handmade street signs he saw around his old
neighborhood displayed. He started working on larger pieces of paper and canvases, experimenting with phrases or expressions he was meditating on from scripture and sermons and random sayings from popular culture, including music, marketing, and the news. He collected sentences that seemed to fit in either context, the sacred and the mundane, which were often loaded with different meanings depending on where they were placed. Repetition was key. He would paint the same phrase over and over onto itself, distorting the characters and sometimes covering them with multiple colors. The gesture of painting gained much more force and importance
Back To Normal 2020
than the text itself. As when people speak in tongues during a religious rapture, these paintings are not meant to be literally understood. We’ll be curious to decipher a letter or a word here and there. Still, it is more important to feel the bliss Daniel felt when fervently working on these pieces while meditating on phrases such as ‘And the Word was God’ from the Gospel of John or ‘Open for Miracles,’ as one should always be. These paintings might have their text obscured, but they are far from being failed signs. They are a triumph as a genuine expression of faith and self, which is most valuable.
Dainy Tapia Guest Curator
Acrylic on canvas 20 x 64 in
The only bible I had growing up was a King James Version which was originally published in 1611. Archaic phrases such as “...this sore travail hath God given to the sons
of man to be exercised therewith” were meaningless to me.
It wasn’t until I read a modern translation of the original Hebrew and Greek text that the Bible’s content transformed into truth for me.
Evidence Unseen 2020 Acrylic on canvas 36 x 24 in
Crinkly, onion skin paper with gold leaf edging, leather binding, and red ribbon bookmarks differentiate Holy Bibles from other printed books. However, the more I read about Jesus, I came to view the structural cues intrinsic to the sacred word of God as anachronistic to the lively and radical message of the real Gospel.
Sky of Iron and Bronze Below 2021 Acrylic on paper 62 x 42 in
Exploring ways to present ancient Biblical content in a contemporary visual vernacular, I transcribed verses in oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas and paper. I methodically copied the sacred text, painting over earlier versions, generating patterns of colors and shapes that, when grouped together, became vivid abstractions. The paintings reminded me of hastily written notes lacking a designer’s attention to letter spacing or legibility.
Such notes reveal a human soul.
We Were Like Men Who Dream 2020 Oil and acrylic on canvas 56 x 36 in
Hand crafted and ineffecient signs behave like a form of public graffiti. Content becomes more compelling as it is conditioned by circumstance.
Give Your Burdens 2016 Oil on canvas 16 x 12 in
Previous page Drawn From Deep Waters 2020 Acrylic on canvas 60 x 96 in
Open For Miracles 2020 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 16 in
The events that caused the Earth’s human population to suddenly quarantine in 2020 recalled the startling words introducing the Book of Ecclesiastes:
Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. Depicting this unfamiliar new emotional state, I wrote phrases on larger and larger canvases, joining several together while obscuring text in layers of paint. Using phrases I collected from newsfeeds, music, sermons, and advertising, I painted patterns based on letterforms, pushing esoteric media chatter to the threshold of recognizability and erasure. The phrases I gathered became gestural manifestations of phenomena existing beyond logic.
Long Way from Yesterday 2020 Acrylic on canvas 48 x 96in
Tongues of Fire 2021 Oil and acrylic on paper 40 x 84 in
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
The Gospel according to John
Night Flight 2021 Acrylic on canvas 20 x 16 in
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Daniel Marosi received his MFA from Florida International University in 2018. He exhibited multiple series of figurative works before transitioning to a text-based, abstract painting style.
Marosi was featured in a Miami solo exhibition titled “Engagement” at the Ricart Gallery in 2012. Additionally, his paintings were shown at Miami’s Laundromat Art Space, The Bakehouse Art Complex, and numerous international art fairs in
Artist Daniel Marosi
Miami, New York, and London.
In addition to paintings and drawings, Marosi has exhibited sculptural works at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, The Frost Museum of Art, and the Ratcliffe Art + Design Incubator at FIU.
Marosi was Artist in Residence at the Armleder School in Cincinnati in 2021. He is also a recipient of the Artist Support Grant from the Broward Cultural Division and is a finalist for the Miami Shores Art in Public Places Streetscape Project.
In 2022 Marosi is a featured artist at Fort Lauderdale International Airport and was selected by the City of Ft Lauderdale to design street graphics in Flagler Village as part of the urban renewal initiative sponsored by the Degree and Blue Zones Made To Move grant.
Dainy Tapia is a cultural practitioner based in Miami, FL. She is the creator and curator of ArtSeen365: a platform dedicated to promoting the visual arts in Miami, South Florida, and beyond by creating and publishing original digital content.
Ms. Tapia collaborates with several art institutions in South Florida, including the Doral Contemporary Art Museum, the Bass Museum
Guest Curator Dainy Tapia
of Art, and the Women Artists Archive Miami (WAAM). She has an independent curatorial art practice and collaborates with artists to support their practices and projects.
St. Thomas is a Catholic university with rich cultural and international diversity committed to the academic and professional success of its students who become ethical leaders in our global community.
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