FREDERICK A. MARCHMAN : Southern Pop
July 12, 2019 – November 17, 2019
Fred Marchman (1941-2016) was a Mobile and Southern original. Everyone who knew him said he was born an artist – obsessed, determined, prolific and creative. He called himself a Southern Pop artist and said he was influenced by ancient art, modern painting and sculpture, folk art, esoteric writings, visionary and spiritual themes. He was a painter, printmaker, sculptor, and illustrator who reveled in using paint, wood, canvas, ink, metal, charcoal, crayons, and even concrete, to make his art. As for subject matter, he found inspiration in televisions, machines, the Confederacy, belles, flowers, kudzu, 50’s automobiles, duck decoys, and the female nude. He admired the work of artists H.C. Westermann, Paul Klee, Arshile Gorky and David Smith.
Marchman was well trained. He was still a child when he was enrolled at John and Jane Shaw Art Studio in Mobile. He later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama and a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from Tulane University.
After his university years, Marchman volunteered for the Peace Corps in South America and taught at the Universidad Central in Quito, Ecuador. Upon returning to Mobile, he taught at the Alabama School of Math and Science and the University of South Alabama and, later in life, at Faulkner State Community College.
Casey Downing Jr., a fellow artist, said of his good friend, “Marchman’s do-it-all, multimedia approach to art is more prevalent among aspiring artists today than in years past, because the art world has been forced to adapt to an ever more diverse, complex and techno-centric world. Fred was ahead of his time.”
Marchman’s work has been exhibited both regionally and nationally. His work can be found in the collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Huntsville Museum of Art, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art and the Mobile Museum of Art. His work is also in numerous private and public collections.
Exhibition sponsored by:
Dr. Douglas Hungerford
