Marjorie Nodelman: San Diego Artist

MARJORIE NODELMAN: SAN DIEGO ARTIST

January 16, 2016–January 8, 2017

Curated by Doug Simay, with advice from Bob Niedringhaus

Marjorie Nodelman (1950-2014) was a key figure amongst the group of artists who first launched the art scene in Downtown San Diego, in what was to become the Gaslamp Quarter. She got her MFA at Yale and began her artistic career in San Diego in 1975. She was active and well known in San Diego until 1992 when she re-married and moved to LA County to pursue a degree in social work.

Nodelman was a colorful character, often seen wearing short, cutoff shorts and bouffant blond hair piled on top of her head. She had an irrepressible joy and exuberance for life and art and maintained a very intuitive approach to her paintings and sculpture.

Her style could be described as figurative pop, and carried not an insignificant amount of surrealism. From a sweet potato to the military industrial complex, from an art deco button to an orange cement truck, nothing was too small or commonplace to explore or be a source of imagery for her paintings and sculpture. Echoing her childhood fascination with elemental stuff, no media was too challenging to investigate and use. She worked with paint and canvas, vinyl and thread, wood and nail guns, steel and reinforced concrete. In a deep sense, her art was egalitarian and non-hierarchical, which resulted in an openness to the universe and a purity of spirit.

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