Marvin Perry Mann
Dance of Fire
oil, cold wax, mixed media on cradled wood panel
36 x 48 inches
$ 8,000.00
C-lective Curator’s Cut:
Although his practice is rooted in years of classical training, colorist Marvin Perry Mann now embraces freedom and whimsy, allowing intuition to guide his work. Dance of Fire is an exceptional example of how Marvin balances natural spontaneity and educated structure. The artwork is an altarpiece-style triptych that features graceful, flowing flames circled by breezes of cool blues and greens. The fire glows in lively red, with moments of rich orange gently burning bright. This fire is not raging but rather being celebrated by the world around it. Though the paint is dry and still, the work feels alive, textured, and in motion. Dance of Fire is a meditation on contrast and coexistence, where heat and cool, passion and peace, life and stillness exist in quiet harmony.
Marvin Perry Mann
We Love Marvin. He is a Richmond-based artist who is challenging what we know of as the American landscape painting. He creates immersive abstract experiences, tracing a poetic evolution from realism through impressionism, tonalism, and ultimately into abstraction. He’s doing things in his own, innovative way while giving a nod to classical techniques.
Marvin’s abstract landscapes draw us in through rich layers of color and texture, revealing subtle terrain and shifting emotional moods. As a self-described colorist, his use of light, shadow, and tone replaces recognizable landmarks with a sense of atmosphere and feeling. His work strikes a balance between detail and openness, creating calm, meditative spaces that invite personal reflection and discovery. These landscapes aren’t depictions of real places, but rather imagined environments formed on canvas or board while Marvin reminisces on his favorite moments in nature. They encourage us to pause and reflect on our own connections to the natural world.
“My hope is that the audience will get lost in my paintings and, on reflection, discover something they hadn’t before.”
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Solo Exhibition at Colloquia Gallery, November 21 - December 20. (2026)
Solo Exhibition at Gallery at Dougherty Station Community Arts Center, September 1 - September 31. (2026)
2025 Sheridan Prize for Art. Honorable mention in the category of Drawing and Painting. (2025)
Honorable Mention at the Northern California Arts, Inc. Members Show, Sacramento Fine Arts Center (2025)
Solo show at ar·ti·fact gallery, Point Richmond, CA titled Sketches of Nod: Imagined Landscapes (2024)
Numerous features in publications for his work in comic illustration prior to exploring painting.
Click here for Marvin’s latest interview with C-lective!