Marlon Davila is a teaching artist with ancestral ties to Guatemala. His collaborative murals with D&R Greenway and Latin American Legal Defense Education Fund students from Hamilton and other Mercer towns to create murals that celebrate heritage and nature are uplifting for both the artists and the community.
What are you communicating with your art?
What I am communicating with my art is definitely the message of love. For example, my current public exhibition at the Princeton Public Library “Phases of the Heart” which runs through October 20, 2024 communicates certain conditions a human heart could go through. At the end of the day it all really stems from love.
Creatively, I’ve taken up the challenge to paint women with heart shaped faces all depicting an emotion or a phase that the heart may be going through. I first started with the one piece I call “Heart on Fire” then that led to a series of others.
What media do you use and why?
I appreciate Acrylics because it is so gratifying to see how fast the turnaround of your work can be. With oils on the other hand, I’ve had to learn a great deal of patience because of the turnaround is not as fast. The natural drying process is a much slower process and it’s taught me a great deal of how to be patient with the process. I was trained to paint with oil and if I had to pick, I’d have to go with oil because I love the luminosity of the colors, how smooth it is to blend and mix and blend colors, just like butter.
Your figures and compositions have mystical qualities.
I’ve always been fascinating with the spiritual world. The deeper I go into learning about my lineage and ancestors the more I am realizing that it is in my blood to be this way. Depending of the correlation of the stars they’d have ceremonies then build homes or plant crops in the area to highlight the power it had in their lives. I am obsessed with learning more about it. It inspires to implement certain things into my life.
For instance, something as simple as finding out who my spirit animal is and what’s it all about, or learning more about the star constellations and what does it mean to me and my ancestors. Why did they build pyramids in alignment with the stars and what it all really means?
Where do the ideas come from?
When I first started painting I also started studying the greats and one quote I took to heart is Leonardo Da Vinci’s quote “Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity.”
Since then I make it a point to go out and explore, go out on hike, travel, and meet people. One single idea leads to many unfolding ideas, this helps me stay consistent with an overflow of creative works of art.
Where did you learn the style that you are working in now?
I studied the way Frida Kahlo was able to tell her own personal story with a brush and paint brush. I love Diego Rivera also. I simply love how they were able to convey a message, a point in history in time and that’s what I want to do. My work is influenced by how they told a story with a canvas, brush and paints.
Diego Rivera, is a big inspiration for being able to tell the history of Mexico during his living time on enormous walls. Frida Kahlo, love and honesty will forever keep me inspired and finally I love Picasso for breaking the curse of perfectionism and thinking outside the box.
Does teaching influence your own artwork?
Teaching without a doubt influences my work because in many ways I get to understand and see different perceptions of perspectives from my students that I would have never imagined. It forces me to see different angles and get inspired creatively as well.
Is it easier to paint large or small?
For me it is definitely easier to paint large because you have plenty of space to work with.
What fight/struggle do you have regarding your art?
Being an artist takes plenty of discipline, staying focused is a big part of the job. Keeping up with your studio space consistently is a must! You must have a strong back bone and thick skin. Not everyone is going to appreciate or like your art, but that is ok. Everyone is entitled to have their own taste. I am my own sales guy, networker and marketing guy. Staying consistent in all these things and devoting nothing but love to your craft can help reach higher rewards.
Is it challenging to work with groups of students on murals?
For me it’s a lot of fun! I love learning from others and their creative process, especially when it’s a group of people the creative flow just becomes really powerful and exciting.
What is on the horizon?
I’m looking forward to more and new collaborations with other artists, more projects, more murals but above all more creativity and community for the world.
Instagram: @70vechild.
“Metamorphosis” painting by Marlon Davila.,
