Andrew Marsh

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Andrew Marsh makes beautiful and terrifying art exploring sacrifice and reward in the face of severe chronic pain. Through Lucky 7 Arts, LLC, he combines cast iron, welded steel, and chainsaw carved wood into explosive ritual performances, large scale sculptures, and environmental installations at BLDG 15 Studios, which he founded in Louisville KY. Each work is a dark effigy to the torment of healing, blending the sensuality of nature and brutality of industry with solemn reflections on tragedy and mortality.

Scar Garden was created in 2009 at JSP over a 2-week residency as a home for Function of Toole, a welded steel sculpture built by Marsh as a performance ironworking stage in 1998 – 99. Now installed on Scar Garden, a tectonically shifted earth plane formed with native Kentucky limestone from the park, the structure and environment host inspiration, exploration, and play.

Remaining true to DIY punk culture and activism, Marsh builds all his own work,
utilizing reclaimed, recycled, and repurposed materials. By using iconoclastic imagery, his aim is to upend power structures and institutions exploiting the natural world for profit. His works intertwine industrial decay with natural systems in revolt as deviations on personal trauma, grief, and protest.

More information:

Lucky 7 Arts, LLC, Louisville, KY lucky7arts.com
lucky.7arts@gmail.com

Marsh is assistant director for Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and program officer for the Leigh Ann Conn Prize for Renewable Energy at the University of Louisville. He serves as chair of the board of directors and executive officer for Josephine Sculpture Park in Frankfort KY, is a contributing artist at Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum in Solsberry IN, and co-chaired the 2017 and 2019 National Conferences on Contemporary Cast Iron Art & Practices at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Birmingham AL.

He was artist in residence at City Museum in St. Louis MO after earning his MFA at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (‘01) and BFA at the University of Kentucky (‘95). His work has appeared in over 250 group and solo exhibitions, collections, installations, and events.