Robert Mars

"Dying Breed" Sean Connery as James Bond 007 Collage Composition on Panel Board

2023

This piece showcases a ravishing depiction of Marilyn Monroe. Celebrating the icons from the Golden Era with expressive and bold colors by capturing these moments in history, his paintings serve as vehicles for bringing the American brand to the world. With the use of graphic compositions, glossy textures, and rich colors Mars provided the ultimate medium in which to explore his fascination stemming from the Golden Age of American popular culture and the icons of the 1950’s and 60’s. Mars hand-painted stars in the background with clippings from magazines dating back to this era and incorporates messages from those times throughout the artwork. Creating the perfect backdrop for his centerpiece, Monroe stands out exceptionally, as the Dom Pérignon logo is draped across adding an extra character of definition. Mars then layers the entire painting in epoxy resin, so the thickness of the piece pops dramatically. Finishing off the edges of the wood panel with newspaper articles and advertisements from an array of vintage magazines collected over the years. This is a one-of-a-kind piece executed on wood panel and comes ready to be displayed with D-Rings on verso, signed by the artist lower right and on verso. Art measures 80 x 60 inches (weights 70lb approx.) Robert Mars was born in 1969 and is a graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York. At a young age, between 7 and 8 years old, he was drawn to muscle cars, custom vans, superheroes, and other icons that were relevant as a child. This idea of icons has been an obsession within his life and has continued into his adult life and throughout his artistic career, but the imagery has been refined over time. With the use of graphic compositions, glossy textures, and rich colors Mars provided the ultimate medium in which to explore his fascination stemming from the Golden Age of American popular culture and the icons of the 1950’s and 60’s. Drawing inspiration from the near-mythical fame that surrounded celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Elvis Presley, and many others, before the instant and all-encompassing presence of the internet, Mars’ daring approach creates paintings with a nostalgic yet innovative vintage feel. Employing concepts rooted in abstract expressionism, Mars has expanded on his body of work in the last years to abstract compositions, finding a balance between chaos and control by precisely cutting the painted vintage newspaper into predetermined patterns with multicolored paint layers of loose and dynamic brushstrokes in order to bridge to the events of the past and anchoring each of his artwork in a particular time of history. Robert Mars taps into the feelings that emanate from his paintings which vacillate between memory and desire. The taste of nostalgia pulls the viewers towards the iconic stars and the consumerist historical subject material of Mars’ works. Mars’ sources are the very core of these dreams. Photographs of stars like Bruce Springsteen, logos of products like Coca-Cola and TIFFANY & CO., and vintage ephemera are layered beautifully with news stories of seminal events; from the death of JFK to the 1969 moonwalk. By capturing these moments in history, his paintings serve as vehicles for bringing the American brand to the world. Based on traditional quilt patterns from American history, the mix of handcraft, and the meditation of...

This piece depicts a colorful collage composition portrait of Marilyn Monroe, as Jon Davenport explores the process of deconstructing iconic imagery from the past and present. Davenport start’s out with photos of his paint-stained studio floor and collages in articles/advertising from an array of vintage magazines collected over the years; plus any other interesting stuff captured on his travels. He then transfers the images to a panel board, layering them on with gel medium, together with strokes, splashes, drips, and splats of paint. Once it's dry, another layer of gel medium is poured on to give it a melting effect. After it drys off again, another layer of paint is added to embellish a few areas and to accentuate or fade out certain aspects. And then, he finally adds a coat of polyurethane for protection and making the colors pop. This unique work is executed on a wood panel board and comes ready to be displayed with hanging wire on verso, signed by the artist lower right. Art measures 36 x 36 in From biology student to owning and running a creative agency in London to a career as a fine artist, life has taken Jon Davenport on a rewarding and unconventional journey. Despite his scientific beginnings, he’s always had a strong artistic streak weaving its way through his different career paths. Growing up in Ipswich, UK, Jon was always an avid drawer, and could often be found with a pencil and paper in hand. With the arrival of his first computer, he embraced the new frontier of digital art and had work published in one of those early computer magazines. His creative urges took a backseat to get a biology degree at Brunel University in London. It was afterward, in his first job working at the Archant newspaper group in Ipswich, that he quickly progressed from plate maker to becoming an integral member of the art studio. It was during this time that he taught himself photoshop, desktop publishing, and graphic & web design. After a few years, he set up a design agency, and eventually went full time and moved to London. This proved to be a successful move, working for a number of clients such as Nike and Virgin, and gaining praise from the likes of Richard Branson and Tony Blair. It wasn’t until Jon moved to the USA to marry his wife, Atlanta artist Christy Kinard...

Mixed media by Nemo Jantzen. Handmade resin domes on board. Born and raised in The Hague in 1970, Nemo Jantzen then studied art, design and photography at the RTO in Rotterdam and mo...

Latin Lady, Original Contemporary Expressionist Figurative Painting, 2021 30" x 15" x 1.5" (HxWxD) Mixed Media and Acrylic on Paper bonded to a Wood Panel Hand-signed by the artist. ...