Donna Marcus is best known for her collected discarded aluminium kitchenware with original uses in post-war kitchens, recalled and extended by the process of assemblage. The materials themselves generate another layer of reference through her practice, further extending the modernist impulse to regularity, repetition, and dream.
Marcus’ work has been exhibited extensively both within Australia and internationally, appearing in major sculpture survey and award exhibitions at institutions such as the Museum of Art and Design, New York, and the National Gallery of Australia. Her work including a large suite of permanent public artworks, is held in numerous public and private collections nationally and internationally and has been the subject of several scholarly and journalistic publications.
In 2007 she was included in ‘Smart works: Design and the Handmade’ at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. In 2008 ‘Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary’ the inaugural show at the Museum of Art and Design, New York. In 2010 her work Redroom was chosen to represent Queensland in the Australian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.
Recent large-scale permanent public artworks include Poise and Grace (2019) Xiamen China, Plant (2018) Gasworks Brisbane, Vapour (2016) Zhengzhou China, Sponge (2016) Station Square Joondalup Western Australia, Propel (2015) Gladstone Airport Queensland, Trickle, (2009) 400 George St Brisbane, Delphinus (2009) KAUST Saudi Arabia, and Steam (2006) Brisbane Square, Brisbane.
