EFTA00522921.pdf

Marc Sijan Biography 1946 Born: Serbia 1968 B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI 1971 M.S. In art from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI Lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Selected Exhibitions 2010 Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, L 2009 J. Wayne Stark Gallery Texas A & M University, College Station, TX (solo) Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL (solo) Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum, Logan, KS (solo) R.W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, LA (solo) 2008 Muscatine Art Center, Muscatine, IA (solo) Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL (solo) Cuadro Fine Art Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E. (group) Galeria Clave, Murcia, Spain (group) The Winged lguanu Fine Arts, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (group) 2007 Cafesjan Contemporary, Museum of Art, Yerevan, Armenia (group) Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL (group) 2006 Amdur Gallery, Glenview, IL (group) 2005 San Francisco International, Art Exposition - San Francisco, CA (group) Appleton Art Center, Appleton, WI (group) 2004 Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA (solo) Westmore Land Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA (solo) Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, MI (solo) Miller Art Museum, Sturgeon Bay, WI (solo) York Museum of Art, York, PA (solo) Gasiunasen Gallery, Palm Beach, FL (group) Los Angeles Art and Antique Fair, Los Angeles, CA (group) Art Scottsdale, Scottsdale, AZ (group) Robert Berman Fine Arts Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (group) 2003 Louisiana Art & Science, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (solo) Krasl Art Museum, Saint Joseph, MI (solo) Dane G. Hansen Memorial Art Museum, Logan, KS (solo) J. Wayne Stark Gallery Texas A & M University, College Station, TX (solo) Exposure Photo Festival, West Palm Beach, FL (group) 2002 Brunner Art Museum, Ames, IA (solo) Bregstrom-Mahler Museum of Art, Neenah, WI (solo) Art Miami, Miami, FL (group) Art Palm Springs, Palm Springs, CA (group) Sofa, Chicago, IL (group) 2001 Texas Tech University Museum, Lubbock, TX (solo) Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH (solo) Muscatine Museum of Art, Muscatine, IA (solo) Southwest Art Museum, Midland, Tx (solo) Museum of Art & Science, Macon, GA (solo) Art Chicago, Chicago, IL (group) Art Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM (group) Art Palm Beach, Modem and Contemporary Fair, Palm Beach, CA (group) Los Angeles Art and Antique Fair, Los Angeles, CA (group) Art Toronto, Toronto, Canada (group) Dallas Art and Antique Fair, Dallas, Tx (group) Walker Fine Art, New York, NY (group) 2000 Atlanta Contemporary Fair, Atlanta, GA (group) San Francisco International, Art Exposition - San Francisco, CA (group) 1999 Art Museum of Abilene, Abilene, TX (solo) 1998 Meadows Museum of Art, Shreveport, LA (solo) Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, IN(solo) Owensboro Museum of Fine Arts, Owensboro, KY (solo) EFTA00522921 1997 Union Art Museum, Baton Rouge, LA (solo) McAllen International Art Museum, McAllen, TX (solo) Loveland Museum and Art Gallery, Loveland, CO (solo) Dane G. Hansen Memorial Art Museum, Logan, KS (solo) 1996 Midland Art Museum, Midland, MI (solo) Berman Museum of Art, PA (solo) Sunrise Museum of Art, Charleston, WV (solo) Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS (solo) 1995 Ella Caruthers Dunnegan Museum, Bolivar, MO(solo) West Bend Art Museum, West Bend, WI (solo) Paine Art Center Museum, Oshkosh, WI (solo) Cheekwood Tennessee Museum of Art, Nashville, TN (solo) Portsmouth Museum Arts Center, Portsmouth, VA 1994 Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, IA (solo) Texas Tech University Museum, Lubbock, Texas (solo) 1993 Canton Art Institute, Canton, OH (solo) Bruce Lewin Gallery, New York, NY (group) Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (group) 1985 San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA (group) 1983 Byer Museum of the Arts, Evanston, IL (group) 1980 University of Texas Museum of Art, El Paso, TX (group) 1978 Park Forest Art Museum, Park Forest, IL (group) 1975 Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI (group) Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (group) Carnegie Institute of Art, Pittsburgh, PA (group) Museum of Art, University of Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI (group) 1974 Civic Art Museum, Battle Creek, MI (group) 1973 Slocum Art Museum, Ball State University, Muncie, In (group) 1972 Duluth Art Institute Arrowhead Biennial, Duluth, MN (group) South Bend Museum of Art, South Bend, IN(group) 1971 Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI (group) Egner Fine Arts Museum, Findlay, OH (group) Wisconsin Art Museum, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (group) Museum of Art, Delta College, Delta, MI (group) SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: Hiromi Sano, Tokyo, Japan Museo Escultura Figurativa Internacional Contemporanea, Portugal Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH Vero Beach Museum of Art, FL Dayton Art Institute, OH Dunnegan Museum of Art, Bolivar, MO Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. San Francisco Museum of Modem Art, San Francisco, CA EFTA00522922 Marc Sijan's Superrealistic sculptures are "homages to humanity's fascination with its own forms - - a fascination which has compelled artists throughout the millennia to mirror life in virtually every medium." Sijan's figures are incredibly lifelike, sensuous and graceful. In fact, they are so lifelike, they seem always on the verge of movement, a mere instant away from action. The pores in the skin, the tiny hairs, and veins; even the bald spots, the blemishes, the individual shapes of the faces that make human beings so similar, yet so unique: These are the essence of what makes Marc Sijan's work so arresting. Sijan, a Milwaukee-based artist, carries on the tradition of a very old form, but his approach is very modem. His realism recalls the work of the Greek sculptors in its bold expression of human energy and poise. But Sijan is not necessarily celebrating the ideal form. His figures are more gritty, more natural -- a tribute to real people. Sijan's work is similar to that of fellow artists Duane Hansen and John DeAndrea, who use lifelike human figures to express elements of the human condition and human relationships. But whereas his colleagues tend to express a kind of static existence, Sijan tries to capture a life force in full swing. "I am seeking to freeze motion rather than suggest life," he notes. "The sculpture appears passive, but there is so much going on inside." Sijan received his Bachelor's degree in art education from the University of Wisconsin in 1968, then went on to complete a Master of Science in Art degree three years later. It was then that he began to sculpt the human figure. His work has won him recognition throughout the country, with over 40 one-man museum exhibitions throughout North America." His inspiration? Michelangelo's David. Sijan has always been intrigued with the instinctive and sensitive way the artist treated that famous form, and with the incredible attention Michelangelo paid to details of anatomy. Sijan included anatomy among his own course work, and combined it with the very latest methods in sculptural casting and modeling. His goal was to create sculpture that could stand alone, on the verge of movement, yet somehow remain deeply silent and "spiritual." "The human figure is one of the most challenging subjects to work with," he said. "1 am working to develop a niche of my own where I can develop a believable figurative sculpture that works not only on a visual level, but on a deeper more emotional level." Sijan's method is distinct and exacting. First, he works from live models, to produce a negative mold in plaster, and sculpts the interior with special tools and a magnifying glass to assure accurate detail. Then, he casts the figure in a polyester resin. To achieve realistic flesh tones, Sijan applies 25 coats of paint --- and adds varnish. Sijan uses oil paint in the final stages of the work. "The goal is to achieve depth, yet translucency," he says. "It can't be flat. The chest and throat texture is different from that of the arms, legs and stomach. Facial skin differs from that on the torso." To achieve the remarkably realistic product on view here today, Sijan looks for "variations." Those are the millions of individual features we all possess -- goosebumps, skin imperfections, skin color, sunburn, birthmarks, age spots -- and Sijan spends as long as six months reproducing this detail on one piece. The process of exploring the human figure is deeply emotional, says Sijan. His work celebrates the individual, and in discovering version after version of the human figure, he notes, there is always something of oneself lying just under the surface. "It's interesting, this fascination," he said. "The human form is the oldest artistic subject --- it was the first subject. EFTA00522923