Mark Sengbusch
Mark Sengbusch’s 2011 The Comb series “explores space through the grid. The paintings are loosely based on three things: Ancient African Combs, cross sections of cargo ships and overhead views of early video game maps.” Despite Sengbusch’s discursive quotation, he utilizes deceptive simplicity to explain process and intention. His work requires the viewer to engage in (general) formulistic rhetoric.
The Comb paintings range in size from 15 by 15 inches to 47 by 47 inches. The process is “scrimshawed” acrylic on panel. He carves out the paint and scrims in the last layer, essentially creating an inlay. Sengbusch’s lines delineate rectangular forms that are cut by brazen transversal lines; this pattern exhibits all theorems of Euclidean geometry, perhaps even the theory of general relativity is explored. The Comb paintings regenerate the grid by direct allusions to contemporary “maps.”
Mark Sengbusch lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Born in Ravenna, OH, and raised in Rochester, NY, Sengbusch received a BFA from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI, in 2002 and spent a semester at Central St. Martin’s School of Art in London, England. He completed the MFA Painting program at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, in 2008. Sengbusch had his first major Solo show Monitor Landscapes at Lemberg Gallery in Ferndale, MI in 2010. From 1997-2008 he was an active member of the Detroit Art Scene – participating in projects with the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Wayne State University, City Mural projects, festivals, etc. He has shown at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, Elaine L. Jacob Gallery, Detroit Artists Market, etc in Detroit, MI.[1] He keeps close ties with Detroit and co-organized a show at CCS’s Center Galleries titled Grid List for January 2012.
In New York City Sengbusch has been included in exhibitions at Carriage Trade Gallery and the Walter Randel Gallery. In 2011 the artist attended an eight-week residency at the Vermont Studio Center. From September 21, 2012 to October 21, 2012 the artist participated in the group show Black Foliage that was curated by Matt Craven for the Nudashank Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland. In November 2012, Sengbusch will have a solo show at Storefront Bushwick. The artist is currently working on Intersections at Barclays Center in Brooklyn with the ArtBridge Drawing Room. As part of this project, four of his paintings are currently featured as 8′ by 8′ reproductions outside of Barclays Center near 6th Avenue and Dean Street.
[1] As a writer (born and raised in the Metro Detroit), I would like to stress the importance of these institutions that continue to support international artists and involve Detroit in the greater artworld.