Infinite Realities

No.1 (Reap the Sown) - Terrariums and signage

In “No.1 (Reap the Sown),” the inaugural piece of an envisioned series, I delve into a narrative where nature reclaims man-made environments, set within a fictional world reminiscent of the 1980s. This terrarium, a microcosm of conflict and consequence, serves as the genesis of a broader exploration into alternate realities and histories.

The heart of this piece lies in the story of “BigGro,” a fictional company symbolic of unchecked industrial ambition. Through vintage-inspired advertisements, echoing the deceptive marketing of products like cigarettes, BigGro’s narrative unfolds — promoting an unregulated fertilizer akin to the environmental hazards of CFCs. These ads, juxtaposed with the encroaching natural elements, form a commentary on the optimistic yet destructive industrial practices of the past.

Further depth is added through various written elements: a poignant letter from a farmer caught in the midst of environmental change, ominous government warnings, and more advertisements, each contributing to the narrative of a society on the brink of collapse.

Each element within the terrarium is meticulously chosen to convey a sense of containment and preservation — snapshots from a world at a pivotal moment. This sense of captivity is not just physical but also temporal, as if these scenes are echoes from a parallel past, warning of a possible future.

“No.1 (Reap the Sown)” is more than a standalone piece; it is the beginning of a journey into multiple universes where similar themes of environmental reclamation, corporate irresponsibility, and societal reflection are explored. Through this series, I aim to not only showcase the resilience of nature but also to provoke thought about our role in shaping and, in turn, being shaped by our environment.

As the first installment in a potential series, this work sets the stage for a diverse exploration of worlds, each with their own stories, challenges, and lessons, inviting the viewer to ponder not just the world within the terrarium, but the worlds that may yet come to be.

-Justin Salas

PROFESSOR INTERVIEW

Justin Salas: How has working at Binghamton affected your own personal artistic practice?

Marcus Newton: I came from Savannah, Georgia. And at that time, I was working very formally, photography, straight photography route around very kind of, you know, using ideas of sublime trying to kind of deconstruct wilderness and Paradise and things like that. My work was very colorful subjects and palm tree farms and in national parks and things like that. And when I moved to Binghamton for work here my interests kind of stayed in the same area but, but, but formally my work became very much about texture and detail. Working in Binghamton really kind of brought me into working experimentally.

JS: It feels more like up here to you imparting your will kind of on the environment whereas in GA he was the environment... Where do you find your inspiration?

MN: Still in place, I find my inspiration a lot from what I kind of understood as a child or whatever, seeing media or seeing what I learned in art, seeing what images formed by my youth or whatever, you know, like my formative years.

MN: Yeah, even like, even as an adult like seeing contemporary paintings like contemporary but like, romantic paintings, for example. I’m inspired by things like that.

JS: So I’m gonna omit the first part, which is artists, but are there any, I guess ideas kind of thing but are there any ideas and structures that also help provide inspiration? How and why did they inform your work?

MN: How do I kind of create something objective like how do I like extend the hand my making hand to the to nature or something like that, you know, whether it be like wind or leather, whether it be the sun, so I extend the making hand to that and remove it for myself.

JS: It was like how your style has changed over time. So I just want to touch on that a little more.

MN: And I like to think that like, my, my interests are kind of just evolving a little bit. But they’re, they’re still like, about how we kind of how how landscape is or how culture creates that how landscape creates culture, right? And how culture creates landscape.

JS: How has becoming a father, kind of, and also, if there’s any other life experiences that you would like to share? How has that influenced your work and how you do work or how you see your work?

MN: I guess I’d like to see that like, the way that I like to work is often begins kind of playfully, or tongue in cheek, or investigative ly, like, investigative meaning you’d like you’d like try to learn about a thing curiously. You try. Yeah. From curiosity, you try to learn about a thing to take as much as you can, by learning about that something and then you try to like dismantle it or or sip versat or something, in the art and in being a parent I feel like you’re, you’re still trying to deeply understand like, how they how like they’re currently being formed.