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David J. Marchi (born July 21, 1956) is an American visual artist, known for his acrylic abstract works. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and galleries, earning him both critical acclaim and admiration from art enthusiasts worldwide. His mission is to bring awareness between the intersection of art and science in healing and well-being now known as “art therapy”. This involves using creative processes such as painting, drawing, and music to improve mental and physical health.

Early life
Marchi was born on July 21, 1956, in Wallingford, Connecticut. He is the son of John and Concetta Marchi who were Italian immigrants with roots in Italy and Argentina. Marchi received his Political Science degree at Saint Michael’s College of Colchester, Vermont in 1978. He married Brenda M. Luddy on May 8, 1982 in Waterbury, Connecticut. They had four children together Justin, Elizabeth, John, and Benjamin. He then married fashion designer Matthew Christopher Sobaski in New York City. They divorced in 2019 and he now lives with his partner, James Finnegan Jr., in Newfane, Vermont.

Career
To elevate his healing from the accident and visual art skills, he attended several artist residencies, including The Berlin Art Institute in Germany, Casa Na Ilha in Brazil, and Château d'Orquevaux in Orquevaux, France. Marchi was accepted into the prestigious Dune Shacks residency in Provincetown, Massachusetts, home to many renowned artists and writers from the 1920s to present day. Playwright Eugene O'Neill artists Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, writers E. E. Cummings and Norman Mailer resided at the Dunes Shacks. He has used his art to support worthy causes such as the Human Rights Campaign, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, Positive Exposure, and Our Heart Speaks.

Initially, Marchi ventured into the world of advertising and marketing, He worked for serveral comapnies including Grey Advertising, a global advertising and marketing agency in New York City; as CEO and founder of Bulldog New York LLC, a New York marketing agency; a director and president of Ryan Partnership, an advertising services company in Westport, Connecticut; and a start-up joint venture with Omnicom to develop Tracy Locke Partners, an international marketing services company in New York City. He worked on renowned brands like Heineken, PepsiCo, and Pizza Hut.

Marchi then went into painting after a boat accident in 2015. He is unlike most visual artists thriving in the world today. Marchi did not even have an inclination for painting most of his life until his boat accident that resulted in a fractured back and an injury on both wrists.

After that life-changing event, he started having dreams and unique perspectives and was inspired to paint them all without any formal training, coaching, and direct influence. He simply woke up one day and knew he could paint.

In 2016, Marchi's first art exhibition was at the Agora Gallery in New York City, with a six-artist group exhibition featuring the newest in textured abstraction, hyperrealism, and trompe-l'œil surrealism. In 2019, he held his first solo art show called “Trilogy” at the international Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida.

In 2018, he was diagnosed by the late Dr. Darold Treffert with Acquired Savant Syndrome, where dormant savant skills emerge after a spinal or brain injury or disease in previously non-disabled persons. He is one of only 50 documented cases world-wide. Their newfound skills can be categorized into music, calendar calculating, mathematics, art, and spatial or mechanical skills. People diagnosed with this unique condition often find a way to transform their newfound skills into a form of passion.

Marchi's lack of formal training turned out to be a strength rather than a hindrance. Liberated from the confines of traditional artistic conventions, he approached his work with a sense of uninhibited exploration and fearlessness. With each brushstroke, Marchi unleashed his emotions onto the canvas, creating abstract works that spoke directly from his subconscious.

The three guiding principles of his artwork are color, texture, and pattern. In these, he finds the vibrations between great contrasts and can take a single painting from smooth to streaked, squared to rounded, and shimmering crimson to deepest blue.

He did a commission piece for Carli Lloyd, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, to commemorate her soccer career with the as she announced her retirement.

Marchi is currently an artist member at the Art Students League of New York, studying with artists Ronnie Landfield, Larry Poons, Paula Poons and Peter Bonner. He is also a member of the prestigious Silvermine Guild of Artists, in New Canaan, Connecticut, whose mission is to promote and encourage growth through the arts and foster art appreciation and education opportunities for individuals and communities. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Hygienic Art Gallery in New London, Connecticut. Additionally, he is a member of The Carriage House Art center, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, and The Whitney Museum of American Art.

He has attended several artist residencies, including the Berlin Art Institute in Berlin, Germany, Casa Na Ilha in São Paulo, Brazil, and Château d'Orquevaux in Orquevaux, France. Marchi was accepted into the revered residency at the Dune Shacks in Provincetown, Massachusetts, living in the same shacks, and walking in the same sand dunes as E. E. Cummings, Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill and more.

Residing in Berlin in 2019, when he took a walk towards the Berlin Wall on Chausseestraße, he noticed brass rabbit silhouettes, which were a tribute to the rabbits who lived between the east/west wall created by artist Karla Sachse. This is where he found the inspiration for a series called “Run Rabbit Run.” Each of the 6 paintings has an image of a rabbit pin-pointing the exact location people made a successful escape to the west.



During a visit to Sag Harbor, New York, Marchi had the opportunity to meet Shannah Stern, the widow of photographer Bert Stern (1929-2013). Following a long friendship, Shannah invited Marchi to access their attic, a cherished sanctuary that held deep significance for both her and Bert. This gesture was particularly significant as it marked the first time she allowed an outsider into their personal space. Inspired by the atmosphere and emotional connection surrounding this intimate location, Marchi seized the opportunity to create an acrylic on canvas painting, titled Bert's Attic.



Marchi's artistic endeavors have garnered significant attention, including positive reviews from renowned figures such as Pulitzer Prize and New York Magazine art critic, Jerry Saltz. In 2021, Saltz, while examining Marchi's work, particularly highlighted the piece titled Aqua Vita, and praised its distinct qualities. He observed the presence of "Cezanne-like" veils of color that characterize Marchi's artistic style. Drawing comparisons to the great abstract impressionists of the past, Saltz commended Marchi for his fearless approach to scale, indicating that he fearlessly embraces large-scale compositions in his creations.



In 2022, Marchi's work titled “9 Squared” was hand selected by curator Eric Shiner, former director of The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh to be in the first ever LGBTQIA+ exhibit called “We Fancy”, celebrating LGBTQIA+ artists at the Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery including former students Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, Paul Cadmus and more. Marchi was interviewed as an exhibiting artist, by Allison Green, for the Art Students League.

Marchi is inspired by artists, Hans Hofmann, Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Paul Cézanne, Piet Mondrian, and Frank Stella.

Marchi is one of the pioneering artist/teachers at Treffert Studios, a newly established creative space in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. With a profound commitment to empowering neurodivergent individuals, Marchi plays a crucial role in helping them discover their passions and express their unique talents. By providing a nurturing environment and guidance, he grants these individuals a voice and a platform to showcase their strengths to the world.

Selected Exhibitions
• 106th Annual Guggenheim Juried Bendheim Exhibit, Greenwich CT (2023)

• Gallery MORYTA, Fukuoka, Japan (2021-2023)

• Phyllis Harriman Gallery New York, Larry Poons-Best of Show (2022)

• The Carriage Barn Art Center, New Canaan CT (2021-2022)

• Remembering 9/11 The Art Students League (2021)

• New Member Exhibit, Silvermine Guild Art Gallery (2021)

• 103rd Annual Guggenheim Juried Bendheim Exhibit, Greenwich CT (2020)

• “Art We Need Now" at One Brooklyn Bridge Park (2020)

• Art Basel Miami: Solo Show (2019)

• Chateau Orquevaux, Orquevaux France: Solo Show (2019)

• Art Basel Miami: Group exhibition White Porch Gallery (2018)

• The Heart of Delray Gallery, Delray Beach, Florida: Group Show (2018)

• Wohlfarth Galleries, Washington D.C. Solo Show (2017)

• White Porch Gallery Miami Florida: Group Show (2017)

• Cupping Room: New York, New York: Solo Show (2017)

• Agora Gallery New York, New York Group Show Collectors (2016)

Further reading and viewing

 * Self-Taught Artist Series: Artist “By Accident”
 * Sitting With… David J. Marchi
 * David J. Marchi with Cultural Alliance
 * David J. Marchi at Wescover
 * The Acrylic Road to Abstract by David Marchi
 * David J. Marchi with Art is Spectrum
 * My Extraordinary Journey
 * Jack and Max