Marilyn Fein

Artist / Sculptor

1925 - 2005

Until her passing in May 2005, Marilyn Fein was a dedicated and productive artist creating works that echoed the vitality, youth and aesthetic drive she embodied in life. A lifetime artist of amateur standing having remained undiscovered at the time of her death, Fein was none-the-less a talented and powerful “tour-de-force” who left a formidable body of work behind in her Brooklyn brownstone which she used as her home and studio for over 40 years.

Fein, a native New Yorker graduated from New York University with a master’s degree in art education. Fein taught art in New York City public schools and became a mother of two, but always stayed true to her real passion of creating art and especially thrived in the three dimensional world of sculpture. Fein’s connection with the contemporary inspired her to create timeless works of art that were inspired by things around her in everyday life. Bodies of work include wall hangings made from “drinking-straws”; abstracts in stained glass; full size wall hangings made from molded wood covered in sheets of steel; assembles from “thanksgiving-dinner” turkey bones; full size wall hangings of concentric designs from different shaped hat pins; wood carvings of human forms; pottery; outdoor abstractions made from steel and finished with car paint; and most recently multi-colored, translucent “assemblages” of consumer products.

Fein's latest works (2003 – 2005) are made of transparent-colored martini and wine glasses, glass marbles, computer disks (CDs), ceramic ware, etc. Real objects are the underling materials that she used in forming what she called “Consumer Products Aesthetic Structures” or “Reality Aesthetic Structures.” These works are assemblages of actual goods balanced and mated to forms of display stands designed by Fein and engineered by technicians adept in the field of plastics and/or wood.

Working with consumer goods in an aesthetic way brought out that part of Fein that was funny, witty, fun and life-loving. However, they are serious works of art. The inspiration for her latest works was the absolute essential “form-space-proportion, etc.” equation combined with her psychological release and need for joy. It is the marriage of the two entities that Fein hoped viewers will share with her in their feelings of these works.

ARTIST STATEMANET

Marilyn Fein - "Aesthetic Structures" (2003 – 2005)

Fein's "Aesthetic Structures" are assemblages of store bought consumer goods such as, glasses, plates, glass marbles, computer disks, and ceramic ware. In what most would see as common Fein formed it into the basis of her whimsical and witty work. Fein executed each piece with methodical detail. Before making her structures, Fein created elaborate sketches to communicate all details of form, color, material and scale, which would be used. Then technicians adept in the field of plastics and/or wood would create the base in which her structures were built upon.

In what Fein called reality-based “Aesthetic Structures” you will find a happy marriage of love, joy and passion.