“Marshall Arisman: An Artist’s Journey From Dark to Light, 1972-2017,” a retrospective spanning 45 years of the legendary artist's career 

SVA Chelsea Gallery

601 West 26th Street, 15th floor

August 19 – September 16, 2017

Reception: Tuesday, August 22, 6:00 – 8:00pm

Jul 23, 2017, New York, NY—School of Visual Arts presents “Marshall Arisman: An Artist’s Journey From Dark to Light, 1972-2017,” an exhibition spanning the legendary artist's 45-year career. The multi-media retrospective, featuring paintings, sculptures, etchings, editorial illustrations and short films, is on view from August 19 through September 16 at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, New York City.

The works in “An Artist’s Journey from Dark to Light” reflect Arisman’s embrace of both good and evil, a perspective shaped early on by his grandmother, a psychic and medium who advised him to live his life “in the space between angels and demons.” Included are pen-and-ink drawings of firing-squad executions, suicides and portraits of villains both real (Adolf Hitler, for U.S. News & World Report) and fictional (Darth Vader, for TIME, and Hannibal Lecter, for numerous outlets), as well as examples of Arisman’s fine art, which gravitated toward more enlightened themes, particularly in recent years. Paintings of sacred animals including monkeys, cats and aura-bearing buffalo will be on display, as well as SVA's subway posters based upon his series of Angels and Demons. The 2014 posters were released as part of the College’s long-running SVA Subway Series.

Marshall Arisman's paintings are in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Print Collection, the New-York Historical Society, the National Gallery of Art, The Guandong Museum of Contemporary Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Arisman's work has appeared regularly in such publications as Esquire, Harper's, Omni, Playboy, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and The Nation, creating an enduring iconoclastic presence in contemporary visual communications. As the chair of SVA’s MFA program Illustration as Visual Essay, Arisman continues to inspire future generations of artists to use mysticism as a tool to make sense of the world around them and create impactful stories in the process.

A reception for Arisman will take place at the gallery on Tuesday, August 22, from 6:00 to 8:00pm. For more information about the exhibition, please visit: http://www.sva.edu/events/marshall-arisman-an-artists-journey-from-dark-to-light-1972-2017

The SVA Chelsea Gallery, located at 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, is open Monday through Saturday, 10:00am – 6:00pm. Admission is free. The gallery is accessible by wheelchair. For more information, call 212.592.2145.

School of Visual Arts has been a leader in the education of artists, designers and creative professionals for seven decades. With a faculty of distinguished working professionals, a dynamic curriculum and an emphasis on critical thinking, SVA is a catalyst for innovation and social responsibility. Comprising more than 6,000 students at its Manhattan campus and 35,000 alumni in 100 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world. For information about the College’s 32 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, visit sva.edu.