In his new site-specific installation Mars Grotte, acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Marcus Kenney (M.F.A., photography, 1998) engages the history of the Venus Grotto, an experiential 1877 work by Fidelis Schabet that was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. A marvel of its time, the Venus Grotto was ingeniously appointed with artificial lighting, a wave machine, and a color-changing moon. Arrayed with fake stalactites, it was furnished lavishly and strung with garlands of roses, appearing as if one had entered an ancient sacred space.

In Kenney’s work, technicolor neon lights trace the histories of the medieval caves at SCAD Lacoste, outlining each majestic crack and crevice of the historic environs, preserved and adapted by the university as contemporary ateliers. Bedecked with kaleidoscopic ceramic stalactites, the supernal, numinous spaces are strewn with flowers crafted of vintage maps, boat sails, and metal entwined with rope and netting, and accoutered with Rococo elements that bespeak the work’s wondrous, monumental reference.

About the artist
Marcus Kenney (b. 1972, Columbia, Louisiana) works across varied mediums including sculpture, painting, photography, and neon. Kenney’s narrative works reflect America’s melting pot of culture and consider issues like consumerism, environmentalism, religion, mortality, identity, race relations, and authority. Kenney has exhibited in museums, institutions, galleries, and art fairs internationally. His work has been featured and reviewed in Art in America, New American Paintings, Art Papers, The New York Times, and ARTnews, among many others.