Mark J Rothberg
Artwork for Mark J Rothberg
Details
How would you describe the work you do and why?
Through the tactile process of cutting, tearing, fragmenting, layering, and reassembling long held-onto materials, I create visual fields where memory, emotion, and subconscious imagery can surface safely. Collage allows me to disrupt fixed narratives and reconfigure them into new forms, mirroring the internal work of processing experience. Each fragment becomes both artifact and offering; a private reckoning transformed into a shared visual language.
For you what does being an artist mean?:
As an artist, what I term 'Introvectal release' occurs in the solitude and privacy of the studio, where deconstruction becomes meditation and the act of rearranging fragments becomes an intuitive method of self-inquiry. 'Extrovectal release' unfolds when the finished work enters the public space, inviting viewers to locate their own stories within the seams, ruptures, and juxtapositions. By embracing fragmentation as generative rather than destructive, my work proposes collage as both ritual and dialogue; a practice of internal clearing and external communion, where what is broken becomes connective tissue.
Describe what you call yourself/your practice?:
I am a multidisciplinary artist working primarily in collage at present as a means of navigating the delicate threshold between inner and outer worlds. My current practice centres on what I have recently termed 'introvecta'; the sum total of all thoughts, memories, beliefs and emotions that are carried within, and 'extrovecta', the sum total of all the physical 'stuff' carried outwardly. A year involving death of a loved one, a new business venture and personal transformation were the catalyst for an emerging body of work. Collage then becomes a sort of transmutational processing of introvecta and extrovecta for final expression in the material world.
Your practice & activities include e.g workshops, teaching:
I am aiming to run workshops based on introvectal / extrovectal processing using collage as a primary medium. I will have more details on my website in due course.
Your gallery outlets/stockists:
StudioFORTY2