Bio / Selected Shows
Selected Shows
Circus Mobius – November 2009 – LIFT Gallery, Royal Oak
Post-Apocalyptic Motor City – September 2009 – 323 East, Royal Oak, MI
The Dirty Show “X” Tenth Anniversary Exhibition – Bert’s Warehouse, Detroit – Feb 6-14 2009
“Tura! Tura! Tura!” a tribute to Tura Satana at the Tattoo Factory, Chicago, IL, October 30 – November 30 2008.
Pin-up Show – River’s Edge Gallery, Wyandotte, October 17th – November 14th 2008
The Icon Show – River’s Edge Gallery, Wyandotte, June 20th – July 8th 2008
Greasers Ghouls and Gals – Meltdown Gallery, L.A. Mar. 8 – Apr. 2008
Satellite Solo Show – (c)pop/Tasi Royal Oak – March 8 – April 4 2008
The Lyre’s Suite – Butcher’s Inn, Eastern Market, Detroit – Feb. 21st-Mar. 17th 2008
The Dirty Show (Valentine’s Weekend 2008) Bert’s Warehouse, Detroit, MI
Chopper Show Detroit – Aug. 4 2007
“Treacherous Company” solo show at Detroit Comics June 2007
“Rejects” (J. Richards/T. Caldwell one-night stand) at Corktown Tavern, Detroit – March 15, 2007
(c)poportunity @ (c)pop gallery, Detroit – March 10th – April 10th 2007
The Dirty Show (Valentine’s Weekend 2007) Bert’s Warehouse, Detroit, MI
The Dirty Show (Valentine’s Weekend 2006) Hastings St. Ballroom/Tangent Gallery, Detroit, MI
The Dirty Show (Valentine’s Weekend 2005) Hastings St. Ballroom/Tangent Gallery, Detroit, MI
The Dirty Show (Valentine’s Weekend 2004) Hastings St. Ballroom/Tangent Gallery, Detroit, MI
Five Finger Discount: A Group Heist (February 2003) The Padded Cell, Royal Oak, MI
Meat Annex: The Public Responds to Meat and Mark Ryden (February 2002) California State University Fullerton’s Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA
It’s all because of Rock ‘n’ Roll
If you are not familiar with Marc Nischan because of his art, maybe you’ve seen him on stage as the guitarist for Detroit’s famed psychobilly vets The Twistin’ Tarantulas, The Lincolns UK or one of the other dozens of bands he’s played in for most of his life. “Its all because of Rock-N-Roll” says Marc “Stretch” Nischan. Marc started playing guitar at the age of 14, and that was the moment when Rock-N-Roll actuated all the events and directions his life has taken. Bands were the beginning of Marc’s interest in art. “Out of necessity, really…” since he was always the one tapped to design logos, flyers, stickers and T-shirts. A post-high school stint in hair-band era L.A. found him playing in bands and working as a mechanic for a few years. But it was there that he was exposed to a tidal wave of gig posters, car culture, and Hollywood glitz. However, since 1998 he has called Detroit home, and his art has been shown and collected all over the metro area and beyond.
“I like to explore ideas of isolation, individualism, fortune, and fate. I like to create themes of power, beauty and belonging.” Taking cues from Golden Age magazine illustrations, pulps and comics, 60s men’s magazines and car culture iconography, Marc’s paintings are like Polaroids from a lost weekend. A lost weekend in an alternate-dimension sci-fi movie: sultry mermaids arrive on flying carpets, femme-fatales carouse with B-movie monsters and hot-rodders brawl with runaway robots. “Some paintings are based on a commentary I’d like to make, or a story that’s bouncing around in my head, but just as often a painting starts from a random thought or a sketch that I think is interesting enough to develop.”
Although he considers himself an artist of the “Lowbrow/Pop Surrealist” school, he eventually attended the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, graduating with a BFA in Illustration. “I do the paintings and I do the bands, but I also do illustration and design for commercial clients plus posters, CDs, websites… you know. Wherever I can find an opportunity to use my skills.” But Nischan doesn’t just paint pictures of hot rod culture and Rock-N-Roll, he walks the walk. He is a member of the Poor Boys car club, a group that builds and drives traditional hot rods and customs. “Once again, met those guys through playing in bands.” he says. For the past several years Marc has been working on building a full custom out of a 1950 Chevy Fleetline, doing most of the work himself in an unheated one-car garage. “It’s chopped, dropped, shaved, frenched, and can you believe I’m still not done with it?” To learn more about any of this, and to see or even purchase art, hit up his website: www.marcnischan.com.
~ Sam Wolf, 2008