PRATT CONTEMPORARY
Marcus Rees Roberts | The Passion and Its Objects (after Dürer)
Marcus Rees Roberts | The Passion and Its Objects (after Dürer)
Marcus Rees Roberts
'The Passion and Its Objects (after Dürer)' is a series of etchings and monotypes by Marcus Rees Roberts. The images derive from fragments from Albrecht Dürer’s series of woodcuts ‘The Small Passion’ (1511). Images of the Passion – and of the crucifixion in particular – are so embedded in Western consciousness that we forget that it is a depiction of betrayal, prejudice, and torture. In this version of the Passion by Dürer, one of several he made, small, everyday objects lie scattered within the images – a jug, pliers, a hammer, a coil of rope. Even five hundred years later, we recognise these objects as our own; we can identify with them. But in so doing, we enter the depicted space, and we become complicit in the cruelty. This is one reason why Dürer’s 'Small Passion' is both so powerful and so uncomfortable.
Image Credit:
The Passion and Its Objects (after Dürer) I, detail
Though he remains little known in the United States, Marcus Rees Roberts has for four decades been one of the most challenging and rewarding British artists working in print. The etchings for which he is best known are characterized by ambiguity and poetic compression, their sources and allusions veiled in dense and brooding ink.
Dr. Ben Thomas, Art Historian and Curator
Work in progress
Work in progress
Work in progress
Marcus Rees Roberts was born in England in 1951. Following his degree in English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge (1970-73), Rees Roberts went on to study Film Theory at The Slade, University of London, where he wrote his thesis on German Expressionist Cinema. This was followed by a second postgraduate degree in Printmaking at The Slade School of Fine Art (1975-77).
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