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Home BIO

BIO

Alan Joseph Marx and his book “Palindrome 91-19.” Photo: Uriel Malak Brewer, 2022.

Alan Joseph Marx (b. 1968, Dayton, Ohio) is a painter and photographer living and working in Southern California. After stumbling through his adolescence in the suburbs of Los Angeles, he studied visual art for a few years at community college (1987-1991). In the early 1990s, he was selected for participation in an intensive workshop with performance artist Karen Finley at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). Thereafter, he became interested in performance and relocated to Los Angeles to study acting with Arthur Mendoza at Actors Circle Theatre. It was here that he became integral to an emerging artist’s work-study program that exposed him to the modern classics and ingrained a longstanding interest in narrative, both performed and pictorial. When he wasn’t producing and assisting the direction of in-house productions, he handled all administrative and operational duties for the theatre. Throughout the years, he has continued making and showing his paintings and photography, a practice that he predominantly aligned with Los Angeles LBGT artist communities of the 1990s to 2000s. In January of 2016, he established an official art studio in the Hollywood Hills, where he continues to work on a daily basis in drawing, painting, and photography.

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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2018 
•    Perimeter VII, Group Exhibit, ArtShare LA, Los Angeles, CA
•    Recovery Artist Network Inaugural Pop Up Show, Against the Stream, East Hollywood, CA
•    Labor of Love, Group Exhibit, ArtShare LA, Los Angeles, CA
•    Rachael’s Dream, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
 
2017  
•    Some Monsters Are Real, Solo Exhibit, Private Residence, Los Angeles, CA
 
2016
•    Commissioned paintings for television series Betrayed, Discovery ID Channel
•    Candy at the Comedy Store, Comedy Store, West Hollywood, CA
•    The Writing Leap Art & Literary Salon, Private Residence, Mt. Washington, CA
•    Honeysuckle Rose, onscreen talent, Anastasia Simone Director
 
2015
•    LA n CV2, Group Show, Coachella Valley Arts Complex, Indio, CA
•    Two-person Exhibition, Hale Arts Complex, Santa Monica, CA
•    Solo Exhibit: Joshua Tree to El Matador, The Perfect Exposure, Los Angeles, CA
•    Commissioned paintings for feature film Do You Take This Man?, directed by Joshua Tunick, premiered at OutFest 2015
 
2014
•    Holiday Group Show, Hale Arts Complex, Santa Monica, CA
•    LA n CV, Group Show, Coachella Valley Arts Complex, Indio, CA
 
2012
•    GEO Work, Event with Erin O’Brien at Chung King Road Gallery, Chinatown/Los Angeles, CA)
 
2009
•    Eastside Switch, Group Show (Pop-up/Happening on Parking Garage
roof) Downtown Los Angeles, CA
 
2006
•    Afternoon Art Salon, Private Residence, Los Angeles, CA
 
2002
•    Quacks Like a Duck, short film. Directed by Steve Ferger. Premiered
at OutFest 2002.
 
1999
•    Group Show, Art-Share, Los Angeles, CA
•    Improv and Sketch Comedy, Stella Adler Theater, Hollywood CA
•    Founding member and performer of improve group Masters of the Obvious
 
1997
•    Hamlet, Simi Valley Performing Arts Center, Simi Valley, CA
 
1995
•    Spec commercial for Scott Tissue, Director James Canniffe
 
1993-1998
•    Actors Circle Theatre, West Hollywood, CA
     •    Forty Deuce, 1998. Arthur Mendoza director, Alan Bowne writer, 1998 (performer)
     •    Frailties, 1997. Michael Norse writer/director (performer)
     •    Liquid Lady, 1996. (light operator)
     •    Minnesota Moon, 1995. (assistant director, producer, light operator, stills and promotional materials)
     •    A sea of white horses, 1995. (assistant director, stills and promotional materials, light operator)
     •    Beirut, 1994. (producer and performer)
     •    Bike Crash Blues, 1993. (assistant director and light operator)
 

COMMISSIONS

•    Album cover for singer Larry Davis’ full length studio album Touch
•    Spun Sugar Rebels, artist Erin O’Brien
•    Original paintings featured in the film Do You Take This Man? Directed by Joshua Tunick
•    Original paintings featured in the Discovery ID television show Betrayed
 

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

•    Organizer and contributor to “Fundraiser for Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief,” Private Residence, Hollywood, CA, 2017
•    Best in Drag backstage crew, The Orpheum Theatre, 2015
•    Trannydome, Event Photographer/Documentarian, Private Residence, Los Angeles, CA, 2003
•    The Backyard Trans-Mud-Wrestling-Event, Event Photographer/Documentarian, Private Residence, Echo Park, CA, 2001
•    Programmer for “Smogdance Film Festival,” Da Gallery, Pomona CA, 2001
•    Performer in “Memento Mori,” for Karen Finley, performance/installation at Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), Los Angeles, CA
•    Assistant Programmer, OUTFEST, 1999-2003
Copyright 2022 Alan Joseph Marx