Marmol builds his abstract works on canvas with a thick application of oil paint; in addition to using brushes, Marmol employs trowels and palette knives to create emotionally charged, highly textured surfaces that call attention to their tactility. At points, the upper layers of paint have been carefully scraped away to reveal an under-layer; the complex process used to build and unbuild these canvases contributes to the strong emotional experience of each.The names Marmol gives these abstracts—titles that include “Loss,” “Calm,” “Neglect,” “Floating,” “Shame,” “Stillness,” “Embrace” and “Uncertainty”—hint at the emotions that shaped their making. And though the work’s names are indicative of meaning, the works themselves are pure abstracts, with only a few flashes, throughout the grouping, of figuration. Says Marmol, “Abstraction gets to what I cannot speak easily about. I can hide behind abstraction and explore myself without complete vulnerability. There is always a secret lurking behind abstraction.”