Artist Profile: Jay Marsh

Transcending Age and Language Through Color, Shape, and Movement

By Ellen Samsell Salas

Seeing himself as an artist not a painter, photographer, or an illustrator, Georgia native Jay Marsh experiments in many mediums, combining sketching, painting, photography, and computer graphics. Each work beckons the viewer to discover layer upon layer of color, light and shade, and line and plane.

Marshs first calling is painting in acrylics, which he turns to on weekends. Working on more than one large canvas at a time, he might spend 40 hours on each, layering, modifying, and flipping the work upside down to get a fresh perspective.  

I love painting whatever inspires me; most often, that is nature. There is a freedom to my acrylic work. I dont think, I have to sell this. It becomes therapy for me.

Weekdays, Marsh focuses on digital art, stock 3D assets that clients download and modify to be used in publications or websites. He might create a mosaic pattern or other abstract work that he has first sketched then manipulated on the computer, then the client might use the digital file as the background of an advertisement.

The digital products are under my control, what they look like, how they function, he said. What I love is Im open to create whatever inspires me.

No matter what the medium or subject, Marsh strives for his work to have aesthetic value.

I believe art should be pleasing to the eye, attractive to look at. If it isnt, why would you want to hang it in your home? he asks.

In his painting and digital art, Marsh is fascinated with light, color, movement, lines, and shapes.

I like the light source to come from behind; it might travel through a birds wing, or through a stained-glass window, he said. I love fog and translucency anything where light is coming from the inside and has a mystery to it. And, I like very bright color. I like it to be as bright as possible. The language of color transcends spoken languages and all ages.

Taking his cue from the dynamics seen in nature, in his flow works, Marsh captures repeating shapes such as the fluid lines created by water, ripples in sand, and mirrored in clouds.

Influenced by his parents who are both graphic designers, Marsh was also fueled by high school art classes and his study at the Ringling College of Art and Design where he majored in illustration and minored in photography and he is inspired by other artists.

Marsh and other local artists offered each other support during the pandemic shutdown through the Local Artists Guild. Together, they are creating a round robin painting to which many artists are contributing. They are also planning progressive art shows where each artist will exhibit outside his/her home, and viewers will travel from place to place to enjoy the works.

Marsh says he hopes his art touches all viewers and takes them to a transcendent level of being.

I love that about art. A child can feel something from it, or a person who has no understanding of English can feel something.

For more information about Marshs work, visit JayMarshArt.com or Facebook.com/jay.marsh.artist.