Helen Marden: Interlude of Joy

Helen Marden (b. 1941) is an American painter whose vibrant abstractions are shaped by her travels to Greece, India, Morocco, and the Caribbean. Working with acrylic, resin, and raw powdered pigments, she incorporates found natural materials such as shells, feathers, and sea glass to create luminous, intuitive compositions that connect expressive abstraction with the natural and spiritual worlds. Encouraged by artists including Jennifer Bartlett, Elizabeth Murray, and Kiki Smith, Marden began painting seriously in the early 1980s. She has exhibited at the Whitney Biennial, the New Museum, and the Drawing Center, and her work is held in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Marden lives and works between New York, Morocco, Nevis, and Tivoli, New York.