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The gallery will reopen March 21st
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Marsha Pels Terranova Redux

March 21—April 18, 2026

Main Gallery

Marsha Pels’ (b. 1950 in New York) sculptural practice spans four decades, drawing both from her autobiography and deep historical research, treating subjects such as gender identity, war and power, and contemporary politics. With an inventive and improvisational spirit, Pels has mastered intensive processes such as metal casting and fabrication, glass flameworking, and photoetching, as well as transformations of found objects. In short, anything — from broccoli to boots — is a plausible raw material, alchemized and concretized evocatively by her hand. Such transubstantiation infuses her sculpture with a remarkable psychological intensity and metaphorical strength.

Recent solo/duo exhibitions include Murmurs, Los Angeles, CA (2026); Kunstverein Kreis, Gütersloh, Germany (2024); Lubov, New York, NY (2020). Recent group exhibitions include Neues Museum Nuremberg, Germany (2025); Chez Max et Dorothea, Los Angeles, CA (2025); Murmurs Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2024); Company Gallery, New York, NY (2023); Fou Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2023); A.D. NYC, New York, NY (2023). Recent commissions include Villa Zefiro, Torregentile, Italy (2025).

Murmurs is pleased to present Terranova Redux, a restored installation by Marsha Pels revisiting her pivotal 1995 Sculpture Center exhibition Terranova — a work that explored vulnerability, protection, and survival, through archetypal imagery in an immersive environment. Originally conceived in response to the 1993 Iowa floods, the installation featured suspended parachutes, a 25 foot argon-mercury umbilical cord, and infant forms cast in crystal on marble pillows, evoking themes of birth, rescue, and the fragile balance between safety and danger.

Opening Saturday, March 21, 2026, from 6-8 PM at Murmurs, Terranova Reduxreactivates these concepts for the present moment — reflecting on survival, rebirth, and the human condition within a broader cosmic and ecological landscape, resonating with renewed urgency in the wake of the 2025 LA fires.

  • Image 1 in

    Artist portrait by Joshua Charow

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