On November 2, 2018, Jacki Apple wrote Love Lost and the Enchantment of Objects, a critical essay on my performance, Object of Her Affection, for Fabrik in her column, Peripheral Visions: Perspectives on Performance, Media and Culture.
On October 8, 2018, Downtown News featured Object of Her Affection in their ‘Don’t Miss’ List by Sean P. Thomas. Object of Her Affection is a solo object and puppet-based performance art piece centered on a woman, who in her search for true love develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects.
I am delighted to announce that I will be the recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, which will support performances of Object of Her Affection at Automata as part of LAX Festival. Object of Her Affection is a solo object and puppet-based performance art piece centered on a woman, who in her search for true love develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects. There will be twelve performances over three weekends from September 27th and October 14th. Details will be coming soon.
The following is a recording of my June 4th Artist Talk at LAMAG with Allison de Fren where we discussed the handmade bodies that populate my work, and the obsessions they animate.
Marsian De Lellis, 2016, Los Angeles, Photo: William Short Photography
On Sunday, May 15th, 2016, the C.O.L.A. Individual Artist Fellowships Exhibition opened at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, located at Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles. I was one of the 11 artists featured in the exhibition with my installation, (In)/Animate Objects.
On June 29th. 2015, I was awarded the 2015-2016 DCA (Department of Cultural Affairs) COLA (City of Los Angeles) Master Artist Fellowship. The funding supported my work on (In)/Animate Objects, a performative installation I created for the 2016 COLA Fellowship Exhibition at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. In conjunction with the exhibition, I gave an artist-talk hosted by Allison de Fren, was interviewed by LA Times High School Insider, reviewed in Artillery Magazine and included in the COLA20 retrospective book and exhibition. Continue reading “DCA 2016 COLA Fellowship (support)”→
In 2015, I was the recipient of a Project Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation to support Object of Her Affection.
Marsian De Lellis, Object of Her Affection, Photo: Rafael Hernandez
Object of Her Affection is an unconventional love story centered on a woman who desires intimate relationships with inanimate objects and her search for love that is just beyond her reach. As a visual narrative about flesh and blood human beings developing relationships with things, Object of Her Affection explores the duality of objects as (in)/animate: animate and sentient through the eyes of the protagonist, Andrea, while the same objects appear inanimate to most. Creator, Marsian De Lellis will perform Object Of Her Affection under the direction of Michele Spears, with theatrical elements that stretch definitions of puppetry, and subject matter that complicates the categorization of sexual identity.
You can read about the 2015 Jim Henson Foundation Recipients here.
On December 30th, 2014, an entry on Object of Her Affection was published in Big Art Group’s 2015 Contemporary Performance Almanac, edited by Caden Manson and Jemma Nelson. Object of Her Affection is a solo puppetry and object performance art piece centered on a woman, who in her search for true love develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects.
2014, Photo: Rafael Hernandez + Anna Sosenko Assist Trust logo
On June 3rd, 2014, I was awarded funding from the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust for the Los Angeles workshops of Object of Her Affection at Automata and at REDCAT for the New Original Works Festival. Object of Her Affection is a solo puppetry and object performance art piece centered on a woman, who in her search for true love develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects. The funds from the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust went towards developing the sound design and music.