Many Master of Fine Arts candidates spend early mornings and late nights diligently working in the peaceful seclusion of ASU's Art Annex. At any one time, the building envelopes the heart and soul of more than a dozen students who know they can always retreat there to let the creative juices flow - uninhibited and, most importantly, undisturbed. That is, until MFA candidate Marc Leone moved in.
During the past year, Leone has been known to rattle the structure and artistic minds of the annex with the chopping of hatchets and the grinding of a circular saw. At times, the "construction" of his thesis exhibit - titled "Carbon and Crust" - got so intense the fire alarm would begin ringing. For months, Leone has spent 20 to 30 hours a week confined to his two-room studio, where toxic fumes fill the air, power tools and torches line the walls, and an ever-present layer of sawdust coats the cement floor.
"They were scared shitless," says Leone, 33, of the other students in the building. "I make a lot of noise here - a lot of banging and clanging. I'm really popular here."
After years of research, travel and countless early mornings, Leone's journey is complete. "Carbon and Crust" opens with a reception at ASU's Harry Wood Gallery on Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Only seven of the more than 20 pieces Leone created will be shown in the exhibit, but each piece creates an overwhelming effect. The 5-by-6-foot multimedia paintings reference "the Earth's surfaces, natural processes and what human can do to it," Leone says. "Imagine taking a look at the Earth's surface from above."
'Carbon and Crust,' at ASU Main's Harry Wood Gallery. Opens Monday with a reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Free admission. (480) 965-3468.
Leone created the two- and three-dimensional paintings with a combination of wood, cloth, canvas, carbon, graphite, latex and acid. Layer upon layer, they evolved from wooden frames to pieces of artwork that look like intricate topography maps of undiscovered planets. The pitch-black and gunmetal gray matte and glossy surfaces make the different textures pop, accentuating the wrinkled latex, frayed burlap, splintered wood and sponge-like cracks and crevasses.
In a ritualistic manner, each of Leone's creative endeavors started at the beginning, when there was nothing but dirt. During his two years of travels from 1998-2000, Leone created an extensive collection of soils from all over the world - Egypt, Israel, El Salvador, and his hometown of Dallas, to name a few stops. His creating process resembled the Earth's geological processes of construction and erosion.
"I traveled to get some idea of why we're here and how we are connected to the land," he says. "The Earth is really beautiful. It's amazing how diverse it is in terms of its processes and in terms of humans."
Leone says his paintings are "about change, in a way," which perfectly describes his path to creating them. After studying illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., Leone moved to New York and did drawings for magazines such as Spin and Rolling Stone. He later took up construction, and four-and-a-half years later, he was struck by the travel bug. Shortly after, he "left art to travel and collect my thoughts.
"I knew I had to change, but I had no idea what was going to come out of it," says Leone, who has been in Tempe for three years. "I had to give myself a break. I didn't feel I could do the work I was doing then for a lifetime."
During his travels, Leone marveled at the beauty and diversity of the Earth. He was especially interested in craters, glacial processes and the movement of the Earth's crust, which he compares to a thin layer of coagulated cocoa on the top of an old cup of hot chocolate. Inspired by what he saw and envisioned, Leone came to ASU to express his experiences through art.
It may have taken an immersion in New York culture and several thousand miles to do it, but Leone says he finally found his voice - at least for now he finally found - and it wasn't easy. "It hurt my brain at first trying to figure it out," says Leone, who up until this project always worked with traditional media. One day he had a painting and just decided to pick up a saw and cut into it. The result turned out to be just what he had been seeking.
"Without [a construction background] I don't think I could have picked up those tools," says Leone, who metaphorically compares his transformation to a construction project. "It was instinctual. The thinking, skill level and maturity that I got [as an undergraduate] coupled with traveling and construction brought me to where I am now. I'm really glad I had the experience, even though I may not have understood it in the beginning."
Reach the reporter at jaime.schneider@asu.edu.
