Marcus Rees Roberts | Winter Journey

There is an expression in French to describe dusk: ‘entre

chien et loup’. At the end of the day, in the dying of the

light, it is hard to distinguish ‘between dog and wolf’

and objects take on an indeterminate menace in

this state of perceptual ambiguity. This is the moment

inhabited by the art of Marcus Rees Roberts.

Working together with Pratt Contemporary, Studio 3

Gallery presents an exhibition of the darkly poetic work

of Marcus Rees Roberts. The focus of the exhibition

will be recent short films from The Winter Journey

cycle, and related work in diverse media including

By the Black Window (2013) – a work consisting of 24

drawings conceived for Studio 3 Gallery – and paintings

from the Echo Song series (2012-13). Also exhibited

are the book works Ash to Dark Water (2005), The

Sad Sea (2009) and Night of Four Moons (2009),

and the sets of prints Between Dog and Wolf (2008),

Memory’s Wound (2010) and Echo Song (2012).

In his current work Rees Roberts has taken inspiration

from the poetry and writings of Miklós Radnóti, Federico

Garciá Lorca, Paul Celan and Walter Benjamin: all of

whom were victims of fascist persecution. Underlying

his concern with modernist stylistic experimentation is

the insistent political question of how the artist should

bear witness to the atrocities of our times. Rich in poetic

connotations and thematic leitmotifs, it is uncertain

whether the Winter Journey envisaged by Rees Roberts

is Radnóti’s forced march, Schubert’s ‘Winterreise’,

or Odysseus’s voyage to Hades’ ‘dark shore’

A Studio 3 Gallery exhibition

in association with

PRATT CONTEMPORARY

www.prattcontemporaryart.co.uk

Echo Song (2), 2012

Mixed media on canvas; 165 x 119 cm

Studio 3 Gallery

Jarman Building

School of Arts

University of Kent

Canterbury

CT2 7UG

Tel. 01227 827228

Free admission, disabled access

Monday – Friday

9am – 5pm

to 11 April 2014

Exhibition Catalogue

£5.00 each

Students: £2.50

http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/studio3gallery/