Rob Marks
Rob Marks, QuarterSelf-Portrait, 2008
Rob Marks writes about the nature of the aesthetic experience, the effect of the aesthetic experience on self and society, and the ways in which constructions of “truth” find expression in aesthetic experiences. His thesis, “The Sublime and the Beautiful in Richard Serra’s The Matter of Time,” explores Serra’s eight-sculpture Guggenheim Bilbao installation in terms of Immanuel Kant’s aesthetic theory and Judith Butler’s theories of selfhood.
In September 2012, Rob won the inaugural Hannah Arendt Prize in Critical Theory and Creative Research for an essay called “The Site of Imaginative Contention.” He has published the first installments of a four-essay series on museum commentary and structure for DailyServing and is developing essays on the unexplored surfaces of Serra’s steel sculptures, site-specificity in Serra’s work, selfhood and the aesthetic experience, and representations of homelessness. As Publications and Training Manager at the UCSF Alliance Health Project, Rob oversees the development of books, newsletters, and trainings on HIV and LGBTQ counseling and mental health.
In addition to a VCS MA, Rob has an MA in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. He practices life drawing and picture-taking and has collaborated on book arts projects with his partner, Saul Rosenfield. Rob grew up in New York and lives in San Francisco.
Contact Information: robmarks[at]sonic[dot]net
Links to recent work by Rob Marks:
The Site of Imaginative Contention (Hannah Arendt Prize Essay)
The Museum on My Mind
Part III: Struggling Toward Wonder
Part I: If the Walls Would Not Speak
Recovering Site and Mind: Richard Serra’s Sequence Arrives at Stanford
Act. Repeat. Suspend. Sharon Lockhart’s Lunch Break at SFMOMA
Matter and Spirit: The Sculpture of Stephen De Staebler
Recent Happenings:
