Orbital – cut up and rewired  is Dale vN Marshall’s second solo exhibition at Anno Domini Gallery in San Jose, California.

This exhibition is made up from one single thirty foot self-portrait, a portrait Marshall exhibited illegally on the streets of Bristol earlier this year. Orbital was attached to an enormous billboard and seen by many people whilst withstanding torrential rain and strong winds.  Marshall then cut up this enormous work, rescuing, restoring and ‘healing’ each section in his studio before sending them on their journey to be exhibited in California. 

The physical life journey of this work is totally significant when viewing this show. By initially placing this work on a billboard in the streets of Bristol, Marshall is reflecting on the time he spent there as an illegal graffiti artist. Now that this work now hangs in a Californian Gallery is hugely symbolic as California became Marshall’s home when he won a scholarship to study abstract painting in 2012; a proud moment of glory after a severe personal battle with mental health. Anno Domini gave Marshall his first solo show at the time and this series celebrates this positive cycle of events asking the viewer to appreciate that there can be positives when it comes to the taboo of mental illness.

Orbital in its new guise can be read as a series of bruised, honest and time trodden self-portraits. Each work is infused with scars and scrawls, yet worked up and repaired into a complete and finished piece.  The networks of lines in each work represent aerial cityscapes drawn from memory of visions Marshall had whist being locked up and treated for insanity. Each work is a collection of Marshall's experiences with illness, healing and health.

­In essence, this exhibition celebrates survival; Marshall’s story challenges us to reflect on issues of mental health and ultimately how we treat people who suffer from similar afflictions–can they also be rewired and restored to better health?

Dale vN Marshall was originally a graffiti artist in Bristol under the tag “Vermin” during his formative years. He went onto  to become a graduate of Coventry University Fine Art and studied Graduate Abstract Painting at California State University, Long Beach. Marshall has had successful exhibitions in the UK and US as well as a landmark solo exhibition at the Herbert Art Museum in Coventry, UK in 2014. and most recently, a sold out series of work at the prestigious LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair 2015 in London, England.

Opening Reception: October 2, 2015 RSVP
Music: DRKMTRLS performing throughout the night

Exhibition: October 2–December 12, 2015
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