Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcus Rogers.
marcus, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
i have been making art for as long as i can remember. i started out as a youngster drawing on anything and everything i could get my hands on, eventually moving onto illustrating my own little storybooks on notebook paper. as time moved forward and various life challenges came, my love of art and making things was what always carried me through — it was a constant thread in a world of perpetual changes and adolescent struggles. i consider myself incredibly blessed that my family was always supportive of me as a young artist in high school — offering everything they could to help me develop my craft — time, space, supplies, summer art classes and endless patience for my work cluttering up the kitchen table. after graduating from art school at SAIC in chicago, i did what so many art school grads do : work in an entirely different field. i wound up with a social work gig, serving adults with developmental disabilities for almost a decade in oakland, before relocating to florida to become my mom’s caregiver. during this stretch of time, my relationship to art making dwindled, as other priorities and family responsibilities assumed the forefront of my life. it has been only now, in the last couple of years, that i’ve regathered and re-centered myself as an artist. it’s been healing and grounding for me to come home to what has always been central and essential to me. i’m now living as a full time artist, art teacher and co-owner of an art business, called 9 lamps with my partner, deepa.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
i mostly make paintings, mixed media collages and a variety of commissioned custom pieces and portraits. each of these avenues allows for a different manifestation or expression of my work, but i think there’s a shared sensibility that threads them together.
the paintings i make are often bold in color, shape and line, yet have a quietness and subtlety in their content. i paint on wood, canvas, paper and found objects. human connection, liminality, transcendence, transformation, ancestry, culture, communication, remembrance, death, birth, devotion, gratitude, motherhood, ceremony & the sacred are themes that inspire my work. my paintings are a way for me to honor what is sacred and meaningful in my life; and i humbly invite the viewer to do the same. while some of my work explores shadowy themes, ultimately my paintings are uplifting and encouraging, celebrating our basic goodness, as human beings. i hope my paintings can be small reminders of possibility, freedom and beauty in this wild world.
my mixed media collages are mostly themed around the commemoration of musicians, artists, writers, poets and other creators of culture that resonate with the kind of world i want to see. they are small, colorful altars, celebrating the contributions of courageous visionaries. i uplift women, folks of color, queer communities, Spiritual warriors, progressive thinkers and people who have created more space and possibility for those of us living in the gray areas and cultural margins. i usually construct my painted collages on canvas panel and frame them myself, using the second hand frames i am always collecting.
What responsibility, if any, do you think artists have to use their art to help alleviate problems faced by others? Has your art been affected by issues you’ve concerned about?
i’m not sure i would say that the role of the artist has changed, given the current state of the world. i think our cultural climate has *always* been one in which challenges, oppression, resource disparity, bigotry, irreverence for the environment and life have existed. in any given era or cultural context, i believe individual artists have a choice in terms of what role they want to play and whether they consider their art as a vehicle for change. some artists view their work as activism, while others create for the sake of aesthetics alone. still others make work for a variety of other reasons, too numerous to name. there is room for all of it. as for me, i consider my work to be in constant dialogue with the world around me. i think of my paintings as catalysts of emotional and Spiritual transformation, which ultimately *is* “political”. often when we discuss “politics” or personal world view, we highlight reason and intellect, while dismissing the profound ways in which our emotional sensibilities inform our perspectives on, well, everything. artists have the power to help steer us deeper into our own humanity, both personally and within the context of larger community, which is pretty powerful. james baldwin once shared that “the precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place”. i love that — it’s timeless and universal.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
right now the best way to see my work is at art markets around st. pete and tampa (including indie flea), solo shows (as they come up) and online. you can best support the work by coming to see me, keeping up with me on instagram or commissioning me to make a special piece just for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thisgoldenhour.com
- Email: ixlamps@gmail.com
- Instagram: @9lamps
Image Credit:
Marcus Rogers
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