THE HISTORIES IS UNDOUBTEDLY A METAPHORICAL INTELLECTUAL DESIGN WHERE THE PEACEFUL AND PICTURESQUE EVERYDAY WORLD THAT DOES NOT CONFORM TO THE TROUBLED HISTORY OF BLACK PEOPLE IS INSISTENTLY CONSTRUCTED TOGETHER WITH A LIMITLESS GREEN UNIVERSE, WHERE A FRAGILE AND EMOTIONAL ATMOSPHERE IS NORMALIZED AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. AND THIS NARRATIVE ORDER REFLECTS THE COMPREHENSIVE, SENSITIVE, YET EQUALLY AESTHETICIZED STANCE ACHIEVED WITH DOMINANT FIGURES. THEREFORE, THESE EXHIBITED PAINTINGS CONSIST OF THE SIMULATED STORIES OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY DEPRIVED OF ARTISTIC IDENTITY OR INTELLECTUAL VALUES, OF A MASS EXCLUDED IN THE HISTORICAL PROCESS.

the histories: a provocative aestheticized stance

The positioning of figures with fictional identities, shaped by references taken from art history, in attractive and lyrical associations in many paintings exhibited in The Histories by Marshall is a clear indicator of the perfect language search he persistently undertakes. The artist, who excludes the Western gaze that insistently keeps the white figure at the center, constructs a network of mental relationships where only Black figures exist within a dynamic image flow. Through this, he produces magnificent compositions that criticize and metaphorically examine cultural tension lines. These are actually the transformed states of a distinctive representation and arrangement understanding into vivid and energetic tableaux. They are full of warm scenes that flow from memory to image, reminiscent of a utopian dream atmosphere; it is a plane of existence based on a complex and layered psyche, nourished by hope. Therefore, what Marshall does is a provocative and masterful thinking experience that exemplifies how to deal with the racial priority that cannot be fully articulated even in contemporary art and with the status quo that occupies museum corners.

The Histories is undoubtedly a metaphorical intellectual design where the peaceful and picturesque everyday world that does not conform to the troubled history of Black people is insistently constructed together with a limitless green universe, where a fragile and emotional atmosphere is normalized as much as possible. And this narrative order reflects the comprehensive, sensitive, yet equally aestheticized stance achieved with dominant figures. Therefore, these exhibited paintings consist of the simulated stories of the Black community deprived of artistic identity or intellectual values, of a mass excluded in the historical process. (2)

In the full sense, these stories revolving around a racial truth are exposed without being traumatized, with a strong bond established between reality and fiction. Therefore, perhaps what Marshall feels while producing pitch-black paintings is also important. To provide belonging to figures who have become the Other and to reintegrate a suppressed, lost collective identity into the current rituals of art is now the most important matter that drives him to paint in this black universe…