Born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1949 to a Polish father and a Russian mother, Marcia Grostein came on to the New York City art scene in the late 1970s. Inspired by Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art, Grostein works in a wide breadth of mediums, including painting, sculpture, photography, public art, video, performance, and installation.
A child of the tumultuous migration and changing geographies of the early 20th century, much of Grostein’s work can be understood as a quest of place-making. A Brazilian of Eastern European heritage, a daughter who lost a mother too young, a Jew, an artist, a woman, a New Yorker; rather than allowing herself to be defined by any one identity, she turns to art as a means of self-assertion. She is determined to define a place for herself, and the breadth of her chosen mediums and subjects reflects this evermoving, never-resting necessary act of self-determination, translating to an oeuvre imbued with movement. The gesture of her hands shaping resin in the swaying lines of her sculptures, and the boisterous colors and forms of her paintings seem to hum with energy. Grostein’s oeuvre includes the public art installation series, Sky Drawings, which stand in memorial to the deceased, video work of choreographed performances and ruminations on themes of abuse and nostalgia, paintings for children’s books, a photographic celebration of cultures with her Brighton Beach series, and much more.
A graduate of the Instituto de Arte e Decoração (IADÊ) in São Paulo, she left Brazil in 1969 to attend the Royal College of Art in London. The unexpected passing of her mother brought her back to Brazil a year later, where she transferred to the Escola Brasil for the remainder of her studies before moving to New York in 1979. Early in her time in the city, she found mentors and established lifelong friendships with other artists active on the scene. It was during the explosive, “anything is possible” era of the NYC art scene of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s that Grostein found her footing and began making a name for herself.
Grostein’s oeuvre reveals a stark honesty. Perhaps nothing is more indicative of this than the motif of chairs which appear throughout her work, whether in paintings, works on paper or sculpture. Depicted with fluid lines, their edges blurring into one another like phantoms in space, her chairs are symbolic objects of remembrance. They pay homage to the mother she lost, whose favorite Baroque-style chair was left empty upon her passing.
Today, Grostein lives and works in New York City. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museu de arte de São Paulo, MoMA PS1, and the Museu de Arte Moderna do Río de Janeiro among others. Grostein has exhibited widely, included in the Biennials of Havana, 1984 (curated by Luis Camnitzer) and 1986, Venice, 1988, São Paulo, 1987 (curated by Sheila Leirner) and 1994 (curated by Nelson Aguilar), and Mercosul, 1999 (curated by Fábio Magalhães), as well as exhibitions at Exit Art (2008), PK Shop at Paul Kasmin gallery (2014), and more.
