Marcos Anziani, born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Bronx, channels his vibrant background into a distinct artistic style that blends lyrical abstraction with expressionism. His bold, energetic strokes are at once abstract yet narrative, conveying movement and emotion.

Anziani’s paintings speak to a universal yet deeply personal experience, where the balance of chaos and control captures the essence of human expression. It most often starts with an anecdote or an actual scene from the artist’s daily life that turns into a vibrant synthesis of the artist’s fascination for the paintings he discovered at the MoMA and at The Met, during his numerous visits with his kids. Anziani's work invites viewers into a dynamic world, where color and form exist in a balanced tension. Like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anziani integrates elements of street art and unfiltered energy into his work, reflecting a deep engagement with contemporary culture. His use of geometric forms and abstract figures reminds Pablo Picasso’s lifetime exploration of cubism, as Anziani deconstructs and reconfigures shapes to convey complex narratives. And of course, Anziani’s vigorous brushstrokes are reminiscent of abstract expressionism, more specifically Willem de Kooning with his powerful and colorful brushstrokes.

There is also a noticeable influence of Jean-Michel Basquiat in the use of bold, vibrant colors, along with the mixture of abstraction and figuration. The scribbled lines, expressive brushstrokes, and layered compositions in this work channel Basquiat’s urban, graffiti-inspired style. The spontaneous, energetic brushwork recalls Willem de Kooning, who often combined figurative and abstract elements in a similar manner, with vibrant colors and dynamic, flowing forms.

Rather than presenting the odalisque in a highly polished or sensual form, Anziani breaks her down into disjointed shape. The reclining pose, while abstract, is still evocative of relaxation or passive sensuality, but the distortion and boldness of the composition challenges the passive nature traditionally associated with the odalisque. It seems to reimagine the figure in a more complex, multifaceted way. This abstract odalisque brings an element of ambiguity, making the viewer work harder to "define" the figure. This could link back to the title, Definition Of, suggesting that the traditional definitions or roles associated with the odalisque (beauty, passivity, exoticism) are being deconstructed or redefined.

The central forms in El Mercado appear almost as cut-out fragments, stacked and arranged in a way that recalls the idea of breaking down objects into their essential shapes and colors, much like in synthetic cubism, a phase during which artists like Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque incorporated mixed media and flat, interlocking shapes.

There is also a clear connection to the work of Fernand Léger, especially in how the painting uses bright colors and mechanical forms to convey the rhythm of modern life. Léger’s work often depicted the energy of the city and industrial life, and here, the jumble of forms could suggest the dynamism of a marketplace, where different elements collide and interact in a vibrant, energetic manner.