In Loving Memory…

It is with deepest regret and sympathy that I announce that the world has lost an undeniably kind, generous, and gentle soul. Robert Ernst Marx passed away on September 21, 2020.

I was granted the honor of working with Robert as his archivist and to create his website during the last year of his life. Robert was a wonderful man who, along with his highly valued loved ones, spent the majority of his time in his studio, contemplating his ideas and creating visual work that expressed the philosophies that he held dear. Robert stood for political activism, social justice, and the elimination of man’s inhumanities to man. His artistic commentary envisioned the keepers of humanity as the gentle, unwavering and quietly strong souls that I would place akin to his own. His unique visual language also included the contrasting, eerie figures that represented those who choose to dwell in the shadows.

In his own outspoken way, he focused on:

• the arrogance of power;

• the exclusivity of the institutions of church and state;

• the abuse of and by both spouse and child;

• and our own and others’ personal fears and insecurities.

  We are also to some degree trapped by the conventions we have chosen to impose upon ourselves.

While painful to express, these themes desperately need expression…

When I look at his work, I find that he has brilliantly expressed his ideas through the visual language he developed over the course of his 94 years. His creations of visceral images portray clearly his ideas that human beings are sometimes the monsters, but also the ones who may be able to save humanity, which is represented collectively in his body of works. He has also presented the idea that whatever deity you may worship has perhaps voluntarily left humanity to its own devices through his creation of his monumental portfolio, Considering the Voluntary Absence of God.