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other past exhibitions › Mikhail Baryshnikov: Dominican Moves › Dan Dutton: Ballads of the Barefoot Mind › Finding Family › Marvin Francis: Prison's Paper Trail › Anthony Goicolea: Ramp › Ilse Haider: Selected Works 1997-2002 › Hybridity › Life as Art › Looking Now › Past Highlights › Marc Swanson: Beginning to See the Light › Through the Rabbit Hole › John Waters: Unwatchable Series

Marvin Francis

Prison’s Paper Trail

August — January 2008
gallery 4 street level

Prison‘s Paper Trail   is a retrospective of sculptures by the self-taught artist Marvin Francis that allows the viewer an insight into the artist‘s life from the inside. Incarcerated in the Kentucky State Penitentiary since 1986, Francis reveals not only a deep awareness of his imprisoned life, but also projects back into the past as he exhibits a hopeful yearning into the future. Using only the limited materials of toilet paper, wood, glue, and acrylic paint, he allows the viewer a glimpse of the political issues of capital punishment, the infrequent satirical humor of prison life, and faith in the power of memory and redemption. Being a child-abuse survivor, his work is meant for a personal healing process and a universal enlightenment – ultimately, it is a symbol for a sense of atonement and shows the triumph of the human soul.

Exhibited Works

• Man in a Cage Under Screw Press, 2007. Wood, toilet paper mache, paste, acrylic paint.
• The Execution, 2004. Wood, toilet paper mache, paste, acrylic paint. Courtesy of Kentucky Folk Art Center.
• Man in a Cage Holding a Rat, 2003. Wood, toilet paper mache, paste, acrylic paint.
• Bustahead in a Cage, 2003. Wood, toilet paper mache, paste, acrylic paint.
• Man in a Cage Making a Man in a Cage, 2006. Wood, toilet paper mache, paste, acrylic paint.
• Three Men in a Cage, 2007. Wood, toilet paper mache, paste, acrylic paint. Collection of 21c Museum.

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