Artist Marcarson Talks About his Work and Not For Them NYC

Marcarson with, Medusa: From the Medusa Amour Series [2022]

By NOAH BECKER October 10th, 2025

Marcarson is a New York based artist with a multi-dimensional art practice. I spoke to him about Not For Them and other projects.

What inspired you to create a studio that blurs the lines between fashion, art, and design?

Not For Them started from something simple - I needed an outlet to explore all my interests, expand my skillset and express my tastes. Limiting myself to one medium was never really an option for me.

Your garments are labeled “Wearable Works”- How do you approach designing clothing that transcends trends and speaks to something more lasting?

“Wearable works” is really just a practice of reprocessing. Something humble like a thrift store jacket, that sat on a hanger for months - discarded by one, unchosen by many- enters the studio and gets a second life and a new valuation through my work. In my opinion, one-of-a-kind pieces and the people who wear them will never go out of style.

The idea of intentional creation is core to your studio. What does that intention look like in practice, from concept to finished piece?

 Intention in my studio looks like many drafts, scribbled notes, painted over canvases and do-overs. Ideas tend to live in my head and in the pages of my sketch books for months, even years before they reach their final form. Through many iterations, the concept for a piece or a series gets built up to hold its maximum weight and then stripped back down until I feel it can stand on its own.

Marcarson, A Preachers Son [2019] oil, screenprint on canvas

The private gallery is accessible by invitation only. What role does exclusivity play in how you want people to engage with your work?

At the end of the day, the studio is called Not For Them -  it is, by nature, as exclusive as it is compassionate. The goal is always to put the right pieces in front of the right people, only then will it be really seen. Extending an invitation,  sure, creates a small barrier to entry but -  it’s also a kind gesture welcoming you to engage with the pieces outside of the usual artworld environment.  Ultimately you can only see a piece for the first time, once - so we curate the guestlist as much as the work itself, in hopes of impacting the right person with the right piece in the right environment.

Marcarson, Last Supper [2022] mixed media lightbox as part of the Recto Verso Series - pages of vintage playboy magazines, when illuminated reveal new subjects
 

How do you balance commercial viability with your clear commitment to artistic integrity and limited availability? 

I think that by operating as a studio, Not For Them, I create a boundary between myself as an artist and the work itself. Intentionally,  Not For Them becomes almost an ephemeral brand that the more you engage with, the more you understand -  that structure invites the kind of referential relationships that commercial viability relies on. However, as the artist behind the studio,  I keep my practice closer to my chest and the vaults of artwork full. In this sense I use the collective studio as almost a middleman between my own personal practice and how the art devourers are fed.

What is the emotional or philosophical experience you hope someone has when they encounter a piece from Not For Them - whether they wear it, view it or live with it?

A piece from Not For Them should stir, provoke, and or arouse some specific shared human experience. I want someone who looks at my work to understand what I’m getting at on a socio-political level but still, have their own personal associations. WM