William Campbell Gallery (WCG) is pleased to announce new gallery artist Marshall Harris. Harris is perhaps best known for his larger-than-life, hyperrealist renderings of figures and objects, specifically saddles, portraits, and new conceptual works. Marshall’s work also includes experimental constructions of repurposed objects or ephemera, newly created carpentry, as well as using wood and other natural objects as his medium and subject matter. The partnership with WCG seeks to make Marshall’s work more accessible to the public than ever before. Marshall reflects on this union with the gallery and says, “I’ve always admired the art legacy that Bill and Pam Campbell built in Fort Worth with their gallery. To join the brilliant artists here and get to work with today’s team of partners and gallerists really is an honor. I’m both humbled and exhilarated to bring my contemporary work to these patrons and collectors.”
William Campbell Gallery is excited to represent Marshall’s work. Seven new works available in the gallery include graphite on Mylar and graphite on paper drawings depicting negative and positive renderings of a subject. Marshall describes these pairings as “a reversal drawing where the original subject is drawn in negative where lights are darks and darks are light.” He goes on to describe the product as “Yin-Yang”. Marshall has challenged himself to recreate the images first in a reverse or negative view. This approach causes him to execute details in the forms that would have never been seen before. The finished pairings or diptychs also challenge the viewer to look beyond the object, think about what light and perspective can do to form, and where the eye and mind connection can take us.
Born in San Antonio, Marshall Harris is a native Texan. He received his BFA in Graphic Design from Texas Christian University in 1979, where he created TCU’s famous Flying T logo, used frequently in university athletics. He then began a career with the National Football League (NFL). After his retirement from professional football, he turned to a career in fine art at which time he held positions as a museum curator, marketing manager, and graphics developer.
In 2001, when working in Manhattan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Marshall shifted his focus away from the commercial design industry as he felt propelled to create art. He studied at the University of the Arts located in downtown Philadelphia, PA, where he received his MFA in sculpture in 2010. His understanding of form through sculpture has impacted his choice of subject matter and his placement of his subjects in his two dimensional works.
Marshall returned to his hometown of Fort Worth in 2010 and has been creating fine art since that time. He participated in numerous residencies including the DCCA Young Country Exhibit 2011 organized by the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Fort Works Art, Cufflink Art, and FACE, the French American Creative Exchange in the Residency and Mentor Project.
In 2013 he received the prestigious Hunting Art Prize for his graphite on Mylar portrait of a classic western parade show saddled titled, “Round-Up”. The Hunting Prize is the largest artist award given for two-dimensional art in North America. Marshall then began creating large western genre drawings including famous saddles and rifles. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Hunting Corporation, Houston International Airport, Altova INC, various hotels and offices, as well as numerous private collections across the United States.
In addition to his full time studio practice and art creation, Marshall also teaches Foundation Drawing classes at his alma mater, Texas Christian University.
The gallery and Marshall are excited about this partnership and look forward to future exhibition projects. Says WCG Director Anne Kelly Lewis, “Marshall’s work has evolved over the last 13 years. I’ve always admired his dedication to his impeccable larger than life renderings, and his evolution into new media and new subjects is great to see. The newer explorative approaches to not only creating art, but the deeply meaningful messages in his subjects, are raw and emotional.”