# Robert Mars

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Robert_Mars
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Robert_Mars.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mars
> Source revision: 1343418030
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Robert Mars** (born 19 December 1969) is a [contemporary](/source/Contemporary_art) American artist known for his [Futurelics](/source/Futurelics) Popforms celebrating icons of the Golden Era of the 1950s and 1960s.[1]

## Early life and education

Even at the age of five of six, Robert Mars was experimenting with collage and pop-based themes that would inspire him throughout his career. He is a graduate of [Parsons School of Design](/source/Parsons_School_of_Design), New York City. Before committing to being a full-time artist, Mars started out as a graphic designer in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) and then design director for fashion brands. After spending most of his life in New York City, Mars lived on the west coast in [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles) from 1996 to 2001 and in [Portland](/source/Portland,_Oregon) from 2001 to 2005 before returning to east coast to fiercely pursue fine art.[2]

## Career

Mars' artwork is exhibited worldwide including museum collections in [Munich](/source/Munich), [Tokyo](/source/Tokyo), [Amsterdam](/source/Amsterdam), [London](/source/London), [Boston](/source/Boston), [New York City](/source/New_York_City), [Los Angeles](/source/Los_Angeles), [Laguna Beach](/source/Laguna_Beach), [Paris](/source/Paris), [Aspen](/source/Aspen) and [Naples](/source/Naples,_Florida). Mars' latest solo exhibition in 2016 was at the [Evansville Museum of Arts](/source/Evansville_Museum_of_Arts,_History_and_Science) in [Indiana](/source/Indiana), where he will also be an artist in residence and guest lecturer.

Alongside [Damien Hirst](/source/Damien_Hirst), Mars' artwork was selected for the [Absolut Vodka](/source/Absolut_Vodka) Blank campaign. His largest monumental piece to date was acquired by [Philip Morris](/source/Philip_Morris_International)/[Altria](/source/Altria) for their corporate headquarters in [Virginia](/source/Virginia). In 2015, Mars was chosen for the cover of [Neiman Marcus](/source/Neiman_Marcus)' May Book. Also in the same year, Coca-Cola purchased several existing works and ordered commissions for a world tour celebrating their centennial anniversary of their trademark bottle shape in which Mars debuted his [Coca-Cola](/source/Coca-Cola) Popforms. Robert Mars artworks are also in the institutional collections of [Coral Springs Museum of Art](/source/Coral_Springs_Center_for_the_Arts), International Museum of Collage and New Bedford Art Museum, as well as in the corporate collections of [Microsoft](/source/Microsoft), adidas, [Nike, Inc.](/source/Nike,_Inc.), [Bank of America](/source/Bank_of_America), [Wells Fargo](/source/Wells_Fargo), [Oceania Cruises](/source/Oceania_Cruises), [Prps](/source/Prps), and Monopol Hotel Collection in [St. Moritz](/source/St._Moritz).[3]

## Publications

In 2017, Mars attained critical recognition from [Donald Kuspit](/source/Donald_Kuspit), [Bruce Helander](/source/Bruce_Helander), and Eleanor Heartney.[4] DTR Modern Galleries produced a publication of a fresh collection of works by Mars along with essays by those aforementioned scholars in *Futurelics: Robert Mars Past is Present.*

- Vassilev, Ted (2018). [*Robert Mars Futurelics: Past is Present*](https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1785511637). New York, NY: Scala Arts Publishers Inc. ISBN 978-1785511639. Retrieved 20 April 2018. Essays by [Eleanor Heartney](/source/Eleanor_Heartney), [Bruce Helander](/source/Bruce_Helander) and [Donald Kuspit](/source/Donald_Kuspit).[5]

## Styles and techniques

From his studio in [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut), Robert Mars archives the nostalgia of idealistic [Americana](/source/Americana_(culture)) culture. In the styles of [Andy Warhol](/source/Andy_Warhol) and [Robert Rauschenberg](/source/Robert_Rauschenberg), Mars explores the mementos of the past, present, and future packaged in layers of resin.[6] With a background in graphic design, Mars uses Xerox transfers of iconic images of celebrities or tokens as the focal point, and then creates a branded paper ecosystem[clarification needed] of archived magazines, newspapers, and advertisements that he photocopies, layers with paint, and cements with resin.[7]

Mars' style evokes a vintage quality, distressed but bold, that hangs on to a fading era.[8] The artworks are homages to an era after the [Great Depression](/source/Great_Depression) and World War II. The era hosted people such as [Marilyn Monroe](/source/Marilyn_Monroe), [Elizabeth Taylor](/source/Elizabeth_Taylor), [James Dean](/source/James_Dean), [Audrey Hepburn](/source/Audrey_Hepburn), [Jackie Kennedy](/source/Jackie_Kennedy) and [Elvis Presley](/source/Elvis_Presley) that Mars captures in his artworks as ambassadors of better times. More recently, Mars has also included fashion models [Kate Moss](/source/Kate_Moss) and [Naomi Campbell](/source/Naomi_Campbell) in his works, as well as [Martin Luther King Jr.](/source/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.), and tributes to [Basquiat](/source/Jean-Michel_Basquiat). Mars also explores [consumerism](/source/Consumerism) and branding that is part of the celebrity culture of today.[9] Besides the exploration of [collages](/source/Collages), Robert Mars has developed unique forms of art from contemporary quilts that merges old-school patterns with [pop art](/source/Pop_art) to more recently his Futurelic Popforms, a collection of 2D and 3D Americana [relics](/source/Relics) that Mars has updated for the [millennials](/source/Millennials).

## Exhibitions

**Solo Exhibitions**

- June 2016 "The golden age" Mead Carney, Porto Montenegro, Montenegro
- May 2016 "Days were golden" Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN
- September 2015 "Boys are back in town" JoAnne Artman Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
- October 2014 "A Love supreme" The Harvey B Gantt Center, Charlotte, NC
- September 2014 "Mars Attacks" JoAnne Artman Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
- May 2014 "A Love supreme" DTR Modern Gallery, New York, NY
- March 2014 "A love affair" DTR Modern Gallery, Georgetown, Washington, DC
- December 2012 "Captivated" Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, FL
- April 2012 "Stars and starlets" DTR Modern, New York, NY
- October 2011 "American Idols" Galerie Bartoux, Honfleur, France
- March 2011 "American Art" Museum Gallery of Modern Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
- November 2010 "Lost and found" Gallery Brown, Los Angeles, CA
- March 2010 "Chronicles of America" DTR Modern, Boston, MA
- October 2009 "Ruins and relics" Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
- September 2009 "Notes from the road" Hubert Gallery, New York, NY
- April 2009 "Diamonds and rust" Art Department Gallery, Atlanta, GA
- July 2008 "Beauty in hindsight" Guestroom Gallery, Portland, OR
- April 2008 "Fading trails" Hubert Gallery, New York, NY
- February 2008 "Viva Lost Vegas" Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
- March 2007 "Gas, Food, Lodging" Kidder Smith Gallery, Boston, MA

**Selected Group Exhibitions**

- May 2016 "Effervescence" Coca-Cola Museum, Atlanta, GA
- September 2015 "Mars and Devine" DTR Modern, Boston, MA
- September 2014 "The art of cinema" DTR Modern, Boston, MA
- April 2013 "Ted x PDX" Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
- April 2012 "Year of the dragon" Compound Gallery, Portland, OR
- March 2006 BraveArt 06, Vancouver, B.C.
- July 2005 "Commons" Basefield Projects, Melbourne, Australia
- April 2005 24Fifty Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- February 2004 Modart, Munich, Germany
- September 2003 "From the ground up" New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA August
- 2003 "What is Compound" Rocket Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
- July 2003 "Into the void" Compound Gallery, Portland, OR
- February 2003 Modart, Munich, Germany

[3]

## References

1. Godhardt, Alexxa (September 18, 2014). ["Mars Attacks! Artist Robert Mars Comments on the Cult of Celebrity and Brand Names"](https://www.artsy.net/article/editorial-mars-attacks-artist-robert-mars-comments-on). *Artsy*. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

1. ["An Interview with Robert Mars"](http://dirtylaundrymag.com/articles/robert-mars/). *Dirty Laundry Mag*. April 1, 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

1. ["Robert Mars: Exhibitions"](http://robertmars.com/exhibitions/). *Robert Mars*. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

1. ["Robert Mars"](http://www.dtrmodern.com/artistsbio.php?id=20269). *DTR Modern Galleries*. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

1. ["Futurelics"](http://www.scalapublishers.com/title.aspx?category=new-titles&subcategory=&id=3885/). *Scala Publishers*. Retrieved 20 April 2018.

1. Furman, Anna (September 8, 2015). ["Curvilinear Sculptures and Cultural Icons Come Together at a Boston Show"](https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-curvilinear-sculptures-and-cultural-icons-come-together-at). *Artsy*. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

1. ["Robert Mars: Biography"](https://www.artsy.net/artist/robert-mars). *Artsy*. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

1. ["Robert Mars"](http://www.artnet.com/artists/robert-mars/). *artnet*. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

1. Art & Fashion Salon (2014). ["Robert Mars Exhibits New American Pop Icons At DTR Modern in Soho"](https://www.tremr.com/art-and-fashion-salon/robert-mars-exhibits-new-american-pop-icons-at-dtr-modern-in-soho). *tremr*. Retrieved 12 March 2017.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Robert Mars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mars) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mars?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.