Marley Freeman
Marley Freeman (b. 1981, Lynn, Massachusetts) uses oils as well as hand-mixed gesso and acrylic to create meticulous, psychologically charged color fields. Working primarily in the medium of painting, Freeman studies the ways in which the material “wants to perform,” resulting in multisensorial investigations of color and light. Her distinct vocabulary of forms is made up of brushy strokes, color washes, and shapes that freely transform across the picture plane. The influence of the material history of textile production on the artist is evident in her close attention to the textural subtleties of her paints and her reverence for their surface effects. Freeman lives between New York and Massachusetts.
Freeman’s work can be found in the collections of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island; San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas; University of Colorado Art Museum, Bolder and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Marley Freeman, 2018. Courtesy Sarah Rice, The New York Times, Redux
Born 1981, Lynn, Massachusetts
Lives in New York
EDUCATION
2011
MFA, Milton Avery Graduate School of Arts at Bard College, New York
2008
BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2006
Burren College of Art, Advanced Studio, Ireland
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
Karma, New York, no when
2023
Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, elbow fist to make
2022
Karma, New York, take care
2021
Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, Mexico, Happy Living Things
2020
Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, Why I’m Turning My Key
2019
Karma, New York, Park Closes at Midnight
2018
Janice Guy at MBnb Project Space, New York, Speechless
Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, Californienne
2017
Downstairs Projects, Brooklyn
PSM, Berlin, Never Give a Sword to a Man Who Can’t Dance
2016
Porcino, Berlin, Postcards for Porcino
Gallery MoAB, Brooklyn, Freeman/Kreher
2015
Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn, Decision 2015 (I Change)
2014
Triangle Arts Association, Brooklyn, Syntagma: Painting as Event
2013
Kansas Gallery, New York, Carey Dennison/Marley Freeman
2011
This Must Be the Place, Brooklyn, Reading Boyishly, with Corrine Fitzpatrick
2006
Chicago Hot Glass, New Works on Brooklyn
2005
Fringe, New York, with Ali Beletic
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
Olivia Foundation, Mexico City, Woman in a Rowboat
2024
Dunes, Portland, Maine, with Night Gallery, The Wrong Sea
70 Main Street, Thomaston, Maine, A Particular Kind of Heaven
Peter Blum Gallery, New York, The Shape of Color
James Fuentes, New York, A Study in Form (Chapter Two), curated by Arden Wohl
Adams and Ollman, Portland, Oregon, Ruined Windows, with Jessica Jackson Hutchins
2023
Karma Bookstore, New York, Miniatures, with Lukas Geronimas
Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, New York, The Glass Show, curated by David Kennedy Cutler
70 Main Street, Thomaston, Maine, Kathy Butterly, Lynne Drexler, and Marley Freeman
Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, Wishing Well
2022
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New Abstracts
Dunes, Portland, A Window is Also a Wall
47 Canal, New York, Impressions of the Fall
8th house projects and Deli Gallery, Mexico City, The Fool
F Space, Houston, Nancy Shaver: Copper and Propane
dépendance, Brussels, L’évidence éternelle
2021
wall space please, Dubai, Bad Girls
Venus Over Manhattan, New York, The Interior
2020
Nassima-Landau Project, Tel Aviv, High Voltage
Karma, New York, (Nothing but) Flowers
Parts & Labor, Beacon, New York, My Way: The Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers and Contemporary Abstraction
Public Art Fund, New York, 50 Artists: Art on the Grid
2019
Gordon Robichaux, New York, Nobody’s World, curated by Siobhan Liddel
2017
Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, Monday is a Day Between Sunday and Tuesday, curated by Lisa Offermann
2016
Murray Guy, New York, What Ever Moves Between Us Also Moves The World In General, curated by Sonel Breslav
PSM, Berlin, A Summer Painting Show, organized by Cleopatra’s and Aaron Bogart
Underdonk, Brooklyn, Onion by the Ocean
2015
Lactation Room, Museum of Modern Art, New York, MaMA Cubicle, (unofficial project) curated by Zanna Gilbert
White Room, White Columns, New York, CCCC: Ceramics Club Cash & Carry (as Ceramics Club)
Underdonk Gallery, Brooklyn, Nuff Said
2014
Franklin Street Works, New York, About Like So: The Influence of Painting
Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn, Canaries
Bed, Brooklyn, A Body for the Bedroom
Jane Hatsook Gallery, New York, Ceramics Club Pop Up
2013
Visitation and Reanimation Library at Knockdown Center, Queens, Initial Contractions
Signal, Brooklyn, This is the Prism the Spider Dreams of as it Weaves its Web, curated by Benjamin Horns
Fruit and vegetable stand, Queens, Fruit and Vegetable Stand; organized by Paul Branca
247365, Brooklyn, Spread it On: Travis Boyer, Matthew Fischer, Marley Freeman, curated by Jesse Greenberg and Macgregor Harp
Gallery, Brooklyn, Rainbows Have Nothing to Hide
2012
University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, Significant Ordinaries
Goethe-Institut at New York Public Library, How Can a Digital be a Gift?
Franklin Street Works, Stanford, Connecticut, House Arrest, curated by Terri C. Smith
2011
Hunter College, New York, Play it Again, curated by ACE Curatorial Collective
Moving Truck, Brooklyn, Street Trash, curated by Virginia Overton
Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, One Night Show, curated by Leigh Ruple
2010
West Den Haag, Netherlands, Carry On, organized by David Horvitz
Public Collections
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island
San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas
University of Colorado Art Museum, Bolder
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Publications
2024
Kathy Butterly, Lynne Drexler, Marley Freeman
Karma, New York
2022
Marley Freeman
Karma, New York
(Nothing but) Flowers
Karma, New York
2020
Alvaro Barrington, Dike Blair, Marley Freeman, Zenzaburo Kojima
Karma, New York
2019
Park Closes at Midnight
Karma, New York
Nature of the Difficulties
Karma, New York
2015
Interiors: Decisions 2015 (I change)
Cleopatra’s Books
