“For years Marin Verghese’s sensitive and haunting renderings of organic decay have left viewers spellbound. His latest and most ambitious series of works, entitled The Trial of the Impious Cow consists of a set of fifteen exquisitely detailed huge enamel murals — each piece depicting in various stages the evacuation of a stool by a ponderous speckled cow. The cow, whose spots are rendered in garish hues that gravitate between purple and the darker shades of blue, is defecating onto an old splintered cross that bears the inscription “And the Lord shall soon be among us.” Once and for all, this series serves as irrefutable testimony to Verghese’s stature as one of the greatest living American artists. Indeed, never before has one with so steady a hand and so firm a purpose devoted such care and feeling in depicting the dross which for years humanity has attempted to relegate to the lower layers of both the mind and the earth. Blending stark cadmium hues with off whites, Verghese displays the rare genius of a Rembrandt as he creates what this critic considers to be the ultimate work of art — one in which a joyous spirituality totally obfuscates a seemingly profane act. This could well be the most important piece of art to be produced by an American artist during the twentieth century.”

Samson Issiopapa
Arts Editor
Rolling Stone

“Marin Verghese’s scatological art is by now legendary. His latest work, a massive silkscreen that hangs from the main span of the George Washington Bridge, depicts a dozen barnyard denizens — cows, goats, chickens, and one oversized peacock — all precariously perched on a clothesline, defecating into a group of Grecian urns that have been arranged in a pattern which conforms to the perimeter of the United States. Deftly intermixing the somber tinted vases with the cheery colored bronze, copper, and ivory tinted droppings of the animals, the artist has given this country a monument which it can long be proud of. Commissioned by the National Council on the Arts, the latest effort by this prolific genius will undoubtedly silence those critics who continually decry the use of taxpayer money to aggrandize public edifices.”

Fabian Saphir Minor
Curator of Fine Art
Museum of Modern Art

“Marin Vorghese’s recent flirtation with the world of three dimensional art is, to say the least, a dazzling success. What this modern master of color and design has done is to produce a work that is simultaneously a painting, a collage, and a piece of sculpture. As usual he has elected to deal with the topic of defecation, using the barnyard as a background. This latest and most persuasive untitled production depicts an elderly humpbacked farmer administering an enema to a large ominously colored bull whose teeth are hopelessly decayed. The residue induced by the enema is dripping down the bull’s right flank into an antique boot that the artist has elected to bronze and solder to a sheet of gessoed steel that supports the painted portion of the work. In the end, however, it is the boot that catches the viewer’s eye. The marvelous coloration, the deft geometry achieved by tying the lace into a sheepshank knot, and, of course, the unique texture of its surface — the result of the artist having implanted the crushed remains of three of his molars that didn’t survive root canal into the tongue and instep section. All of these factors contribute toward making this charming boot the focal point of Verghese’s latest visual adventure. All in all this is one smashing piece of art!”

Mischa Parentis Guggenheim
Publisher
Art International

“In view of his recent MacArthur Fellowship, Marin Verghese’s suicide did come as something of a shock. Tragic implications aside, however, it was a spectacular “happening” in the world of art. Clad in that familiar brown jumpsuit, he ascended one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge, and upon reaching its summit released hundreds of flyers, at which point he summarily dove into the swirling waters below. In doing the latter, he provided the world with a dazzling display of living kinetic art. Among other things, the flyers he’d distributed noted that his final descent, which, by the way, has been immortalized on film, was, indeed, intended to be a work of art. Its title, The Terminal Turd, vividly evokes the dramatic visage of that brown blob plummeting into the polluted river below. All in all, I’d say Verghese left the art world one hell of a legacy!”

Artemis Olander
Arts Editor
The New York Times

David Sheskin’s writing and art have appeared in The Dalhousie Review, Puerto del Sol, The Journal of Irreproducible Results, Permafrost and Notre Dame Review. His most recent book is David Sheskin’s Cabinet of Curiosities.