Through minimalist text-based artworks and four-word poems, Brooklyn artist Marcus Civin explores love, memory, language, and human connection one carefully chosen word at a time.
In an art world often dominated by large-scale installations, complex conceptual frameworks, and visually overwhelming experiences, Marcus Civin’s work offers something remarkably different.
Silence.
Space.
A handful of words.
At Spring Break Art Show NYC, Civin presents a series of text-based works built around what he calls “Only Poems”—four-line poems composed of just four words, always centered around the word “only.” The format is deceptively simple, yet the emotional territory it explores is vast.
Standing inside Booth 35, viewers quickly discover that the works are less about reading and more about reflection. The poems invite a slower kind of engagement, one that feels increasingly rare in a culture defined by speed, scrolling, and constant distraction.
For Civin, these poems are fundamentally about love.
Not simply romantic love, but the broader spectrum of human connection. Friendship. Longing. Affection. Loss. Memory. Gratitude. The subtle emotions that shape everyday life often become the foundation of his work.
The simplicity of the format is intentional.
By limiting himself to only four words, Civin removes everything unnecessary, forcing both artist and viewer to focus on meaning rather than excess. What remains is often surprisingly powerful. A few carefully arranged words become capable of carrying entire narratives, memories, or emotional states.
The project emerged from a lifelong relationship with language.
Long before these poems found their way onto linen and gallery walls, Civin was writing. As a child, he was the kid sitting alone in his room creating stories inspired by his own experiences, disguising friends and family members as fictional characters while trying to understand the world around him.
That impulse never disappeared.
It simply evolved.
Over the years, Civin developed numerous text-based projects, experimenting with the relationship between language, visual art, and physical space. Moving frequently throughout his life—from Boston to Baltimore, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and other cities—he accumulated an archive of sketches, notes, drawings, and letterforms that eventually became part of his artistic vocabulary.
Those years of experimentation would ultimately shape the visual identity of the work on view today.
The lettering itself carries a personal history.
While developing the series, Civin revisited decades of old drawings and text-based works. Rather than starting from scratch, he began collecting fragments from previous projects, preserving letterforms that resonated with him. Over time, these fragments evolved into what he jokingly describes as a personal alphabet—a visual language built from years of artistic exploration.
The resulting works possess a distinctive presence.
The words feel handcrafted rather than designed. Personal rather than corporate. They retain traces of the artist’s hand while maintaining a formal clarity that allows viewers to focus entirely on the poetry itself.
Equally important is the material.
Civin chose linen as the foundation for the series after becoming fascinated with its texture and visual character. Through extensive experimentation, he developed a process that allows the poems to exist somewhere between painting, drawing, typography, and poetry.
The final works feel simultaneously literary and visual.
You can read them.
You can look at them.
You can experience them as both language and image.
That duality reflects a broader theme throughout Civin’s practice: the belief that art does not need to fit neatly into categories.
The poems themselves often begin in the most ordinary circumstances.
A thought while walking through the city.
A note scribbled in a notebook.
An observation captured in a phone.
An idea that appears unexpectedly while shopping or commuting.
Civin encourages everyone to try writing an Only Poem.
The structure is simple enough that anyone can participate, yet challenging enough to reveal something meaningful.
That openness is important.
Many of the earliest poems were not intended for exhibition at all. Instead, they were given away as gifts.
An artist friend once suggested that when beginning a new body of work, it can be helpful to imagine an audience of one. Rather than worrying about critics, collectors, or institutions, create something meaningful for a single person.
For a project rooted in love, the advice proved transformative.
The poems became acts of communication.
Small offerings exchanged between individuals.
Even now, displayed publicly within an art fair, they retain that intimate quality.
The viewer never feels like part of a crowd.
The work speaks directly to them.
Living in New York has only deepened Civin’s relationship with artistic discovery. Like countless artists before him, he arrived with an endless list of galleries, museums, and exhibitions he hoped to see, only to realize that the city’s cultural abundance is impossible to fully consume.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed, however, he seems energized by the reality.
The city functions as an ongoing conversation, constantly introducing new ideas, perspectives, and possibilities.
At the same time, Civin has found something unexpected in New York: balance.
While the city is often associated with relentless activity, he describes feeling calmer and more organized here than at many previous points in his life. Studio practice, daily routines, friendships, and personal responsibilities have found a sustainable rhythm.
That balance may explain the quiet confidence present throughout the work.
Nothing feels rushed.
Nothing feels forced.
The poems arrive with the assurance of someone who understands that meaning often emerges through patience.
At Spring Break Art Show NYC, Marcus Civin reminds viewers that art does not always need to shout to be heard.
Sometimes four carefully chosen words are enough.
Sometimes a small poem can hold an entire life.
And sometimes the most profound experiences begin with the simplest acts of attention.
About Tarik Talk Podcast
Tarik Talk Podcast is an international arts and culture podcast hosted by artist Tarik Mendes. With more than 200 episodes across 50 seasons filmed in over 10 countries, the podcast features conversations with artists, curators, museum professionals, collectors, cultural leaders, and creative innovators from around the world.
Recorded inside artist studios, museums, galleries, art fairs, and cultural institutions, Tarik Talk explores the personal stories, creative processes, challenges, inspirations, and career journeys that shape today’s contemporary art landscape.
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