Chronicling a fascination with 1950’s and 60’s iconography, Robert Mars creates artwork that celebrates the commonplace objects and icons of an America long past in a thoroughly modern, and exquisitely constructed, manner. His eye for a distinct facet of American history is impeccable, and his ability to manipulate both the color and wordplay of vintage printed material has earned him reference with the likes of Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Richard Diebenkorn, among other masters from the School of Pop. By taking inspiration from the Golden Age of American popular culture and celebrating figures of the 1950’s and 60’s, Mars’ artwork chronicles an evolving relationship with celebrity. Through the application of a rich color palette and tongue in cheek attitude, Mars’ paintings evoke a vintage quality of design and pay homage to the idealized age of growth and hopefulness that was prevalent in the USA at the end of World War II. A time before the internet and mobile technology, where visual information was not constantly blasted to millions, and there was no such thing as instant digital celebrities, where instead people lived with the myth of the unique, untouchable and unforgettable personalities of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn, Elvis Presley, and many others. By merging his own concept of personal idols with those of mainstream culture, Mars is able to focus his work on a deeper analysis of the Golden Age of Americana. His early work focuses on many of the architectural and mechanical forms of the 50’s and 60’s, where muscle cars, motels, kitschy logos, and hulking monuments to the "modern" feeling of the time reigned supreme. More recently, however, Mars’ artwork has shifted toward the culture of celebrity, and he is strikingly attuned to the fact that these instantly recognizable and larger than life personalities continue to resonate not only with contemporary American culture, but with a worldwide market. In 2014, after serious reflection upon his artistic thought, his process, wanting to explore traditionalism from another angle, and through influence from his wife, Mars began to delve deeper into American culture by focusing on Folk Art and Contemporary American Quiltmakers. By combining vintage wallpapers with quilt patterns Mars was able to further differentiate himself from the scores of artists using similar iconic themes. Mars is credited as being the first to incorporate quilt patterns and a folk art sensibility into a pop art aesthetic creating his own genre of folk laced pop. This past year Mars has expanded on his body of work with abstract compositions. This body of work strikes a balance between chaos and control. Employing concepts rooted in abstract expressionism, Mars begins with multicolored paint layers of loose and dynamic brushstrokes on vintage newspaper. Choosing to sometimes highlight and sometimes obliterate this record of events acts as rebellion to structure and order. The vintage newspaper is a bridge to the events of the past; anchoring the work in history. The dialogue between the layers of color; the events glimpsed through the paint; sets the palette for the final composition. To apply order to the chaos Mars precisely cuts the painted newspaper into predetermined patterns. Based on traditional quilt patterns from American history, the mix of handcraft and the meditation of time contained in that often overlooked folk art, these tessellations echo the backgrounds utilized in his representational body of work. As he rebuilds the composition he keeps structure, composition, and color in mind. The process of discovery and sense of resolution is the result of reconstructing these compositions.A graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York, Mars often references his decades as a graphic designer in his work. Mars’ artwork is exhibited worldwide including museum, corporate, and private collections in Munich, Tokyo, Amsterdam, London, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, Paris, Aspen and Dallas. Born in New Jersey, Mars studied at the Parsons School of Design and worked for a time as a graphic designer. His cultural mash-ups draw on imagery from his collection of vintage magazines. Combining enlarged Xerox transfers and boldly painted colors in several built-up layers, his works recall the messy remixing of everyday objects by Robert Rauschenberg as well as the explorations of mass reproduction and fame by Andy Warhol. The shape of a Chanel No. 5 bottle, a Louis Vuitton logo and a photograph of Audrey Hepburn are all plucked from mass media as relics of Americana and the obsession with luxury. Distressing the surfaces of the pieces, Mars gives them a timeworn texture, like an old advertisement that might be found on the wall of a roadside gas station, but with a surreal quality in their recontextualized subjects."By creating my work using original source material from the 1950’s and 60’s I am addressing history by using pieces of history. My interest in American cultural icons extends beyond just simply appropriating the flag and delves deeper into American folk art by incorporating quilt patterns with a pop art sensibility. This has become a signature in my work that has been woven throughout my bodies of work since 2014. The idea behind matching brand logos with iconic figures from history speaks to the idea that a persons face or style could be their “brand” and act in a similar manner as a corporate logo works to become a simplified mark to encompass everything that the brand signifies. Although my main focus has been American cultural icons for the past two decades my vision had shifted to become more global at a point 10 years ago... I started realizing that many International brands, iconic figures, and products had become absorbed into American culture and I was able to add these icons to my broaden my story. My shaped pieces, which I call PopForms, were influenced by seeing the Frank Stella retrospective at the Whitney. I was in awe of how dynamic these works were and how they broke from traditional square or rectangle formats. I started to play with shape and having it determine the overall look and feel of the piece on the wall. The idea of icons has been an obsession within my life and my art as long as I have been creating art. At 7 and 8 years old I was drawn to muscle cars, custom vans, super heroes and other icons that are relevant as a child. This obsession has continued into my adult life but the imagery has been refined over time."