Marrow Gallery is pleased to present “Flags: Nido,” new works from Ohio based Shawn Powell. In his first solo exhibition with the gallery, Powell will present small-scale reductive abstract paintings on custom-made flag shaped canvases. The works were created while in residence in Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy.

Nido, is the Italian word for nest; which Powell centered around the idea of the nest as it relates to his artistic practice. The works were created based on a selection of the many reductive abstract painters who have influenced his work and he has an affinity with, bringing parts and pieces of their work back to his studio “nest” where they find their new form in these paintings.

Nautical flags utilize a series of shapes, colors, patterns, and combinations to signify varying meanings to other ships. Powell’s implementation of this system to parallel how we read abstraction, and how each of the painters who influenced him or the artistic movements they are associated with, all have their own set of codes. The boat flags and abstract paintings remain aesthetic unless you understand the system and have a key or knowledge to decipher them.

About Shawn Powell

Shawn Powell lives and works in Kent, Ohio. He has presented solo exhibitions at 106 Green, Brooklyn, NY; Chapter, New York, NY; Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, OH; and in Tennis Elbow at The Journal Gallery, New York, NY. His work has been in numerous group exhibitions at venues such as Marrow Gallery, San Francisco, CA; The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA; NADA Miami, NADA New York. He has been featured in print or online in Vanity Fair, Brooklyn Magazine, Hyperallergic, Artmaze Mag, Juxtapoz Magazine, New American Paintings, as well as in Secret of the Friendly Woods with the Wassaic Project. He was awarded 2021 and 2023 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award Grants. Powell has participated in the Alfred/Düsseldorf Residency in Düsseldorf, Germany and the Poor Farm artist residency at the International Center for the Arts in Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy. His work is included in the Akron Art Museum permanent collection, Fidelity Art Collection, and the Cleveland Clinic Collection. Powell received his BFA in Painting and Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA in Painting from Hunter College.