Marshall Avett - Atlanta, Georgia
Tidal Pool (2003)

Media: CDR, CD player, tuner, speakers, speaker wires, vinyl records

"For many years I experienced a recurring dream that seemed to involve only sound. I had a sense that what I was hearing was drawing me closer to death or some other trauma, and the louder and more varied the sounds became the closer that end was. It terrified me, yet enthralled me. Each time I had this dream I distinctly recall feeling the need to fight this pull, to deny the unknown fate. Yet, I was so enamored by the sound(s) that I wanted to hear more, to learn how they changed and what the final impact might be. I haven't had this dream for many years now, but have discovered similar sounds in the works of noise artists, electro-acoustic recordings and musique concrete experiments. When I record music or incorporate sound into my art I want the viewer/listener to have the same reaction: instinctive knowledge that what is being heard is unlike anything known to them and may become dangerous at any moment, but drawn to it in hopes of discovering something new within themselves. Like flies to a spider trapped in a bowl of honey."

Marshall Avett's interest in sound and art began a decade ago when his taste in music branched out into the realms of noise, collage, musique concrete, free jazz, and field recordings. Influenced by the works of Christian Marclay, Eric Gaffney and Anton Bruhin, Avett records his own music and creates works of art of both two- and three-dimensions as well as installations and multimedia creations. His piece, Tidal Pool, is based on a recent vacation to Pawley's Island, South Carolina and drawings of imaginary creatures done as a child.

In addition to being the editor of the Jackson Progress-Argus weekly newspaper in Butts County, Georgia and co-founder of Old Gold Records, a label devoted to beautiful overlooked and under-appreciated music, Marshall Avett is a visual artist whose works have appeared at Eyedrum and the Silver Ceiling in Atlanta, the Lowery Gallery in Watkinsville and the Lump Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina. He lives with a cat named Lucky and a growing collection of records in Jackson, Georgia where he can hear trains pass through town day and night. He is a Sagittarius.

 

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