Marielle Plaisir
A World of Utopias

October 22 - November 18, 2023

Fredric Snitzer Gallery is pleased to present “A World of Utopias” a solo presentation by Marielle Plaisir. This exhibition focuses on the artist's current series of paintings, which serve as a vibrant and expressive manifesto for an idyllic vision of Utopia she is eager to bring to life. This exhibition also inaugurates Plaisir's representation with the gallery.

Revealing a spectrum of landscapes, Marielle Plaisir's paintings feature radiant, idealized islands to hostile and disordered terrains. Within these settings, she introduces floating elements such as flowers, animals, and characters, all engaged in loosely woven narratives. Free from predetermined compositions, these works emerge from spontaneity. These paintings are a space of reflection for Plaisir; they harness her deep emotional response to the troubled and perplexing world, a world she struggles to comprehend fully. The nature of the paintings' open-ended narratives allows viewers to uncover their interpretations and concepts of a "place of nowhere," where everything is ripe for a fresh beginning. 

Through her work, Plaisir has explored the concepts of domination and supremacy for many years. While a painter first, with this affinity, she considers herself an activist artist. Finding and using the most effective medium to intervene and distill or convey her narrative content is essential in her practice. 

Plaisir questions the construction of identity in contemporary society, and the role of domination and power play within it. They tackle the theme of social dominance in their work and delve into issues surrounding colonialism, race, and class. Plaisir underscores the commonalities between US black history and Caribbean history, such as the labor movements and the fight for equality. Her artworks resist harmful histories and offer hope for a better future. Drawing attention to the interconnections between humans, the universality of fractured identities, and the power of recognizing and depicting inner worlds, She offers a lens to reconstruct a world where no one dominates or reigns; everyone moves freely between reality and imagination.

Plaisir’s message is simple: Let's dare to dream of Utopia to challenge and change our world. “A World of Utopias” invites us to think differently and reimagine our reality.

Marielle Plaisir is a French-Caribbean multimedia artist who lives in Miami, FL. Plaisir earned a Master of Applied Arts (University of Bordeaux III, France) and a graduate degree in art and scenography (Honors Advanced School of Fine Arts and Decorative Arts of Bordeaux, France.) Her production process is fluid, working across various mediums such as sculpture, drawing, painting, and textile, often combined to ignite the imagination, evoke emotions, and capture universal truths.

Plaisir has exhibited in international biennials, including Sao Paulo, Dakar, Benin, Florence and Dublin. She received the South Florida Cultural Consortium in 2018, a South Arts State Fellow in 2021, and a Knight New Work Winner through The Knight Foundation in 2022.

Recent notable exhibitions include No Color Lines, University Art Gallery, The University of the South, Sewanee, TN (2023); Acta es fabula, the piece is over, Locust Projects, Miami, FL (2020); Visionary Aponte: Art and Black Freedom, a traveling exhibition from Little Haiti Cultural Center, Miami, FL (2018) to King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, New York University, New York, NY (2018), Power Plant Gallery, Duke University, Durham, NC (2018), Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba (2019), Galería Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba (2019), Fine Arts Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (2020); Acta non Verba, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami, FL (2016); Les Commodités de la Conversation curated by François Hubert, Museum of Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France (2014); among others.

Her work is in numerous public collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Miami, Florida; (USA), NSU Museum Fort-Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, FL; Gregg Museum of Art + Design, Raleigh, NC; Museum of Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France; Fonds d'art contemporain Guadeloupe, Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe; Musée d'art contemporain de Martinique, Martinique, FWI; Musée Dapper, Paris, France; The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL.