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Mark Taber is a folk artist, a junk sculptor, an outsider whose assemblages are constructed of rust, wood, wheels, pieces of sewing machines and gutted pianos, ironing boards, rocking chair rockers, and anything else he's found or that has been left at his doorstep. His pieces, mainly vehicles or musical instruments, are charming, animated with personality, rearing to travel or to sound the first chord, the stuff of adventure and dream.
Mark is a lifelong Rhode Island resident and well known, both as an artist and as a pianist, playing solo and with just about every club musician in town for the past 40 some years. He's been making his sculptures for just as long, in his backyard, his basement, anywhere that space would allow. He first showed his work with us in 1991 as part of a group show at Davol Square called "Nine Nuts" (curated by artist Jeff Thomas), and his work caught the attention of the press, artists, curators, and everyone who stopped by for a look. He's exhibited extensively since, both at Po Gallery and with other institutions including the Newport, the Attleboro and the Warwick Museums. He was awarded a RISCA project grant, was commissioned to build a piece for permanent installation at the BB King Blues Club in New York City, and one of his pieces was included in a Smithsonian SITES publication titled "Seeing Jazz".
Artist's Statement
I have found and saved objects all my life. For the last 15 years, I have been combining them to create “assemblages” in which they lose their original identities to form something entirely new.
The juxtaposition of materials within a work expresses to me the interrelatedness of all things: a keyboard and a motorcycle chain, bamboo and computer components, rusted metal and plastic, the rough and the ornate. These are connected by design and imply the union of opposites. The joining of old and new objects also strongly suggests the connection between the past and the future.
As my work has evolved, it has gone through some distinct phases. The earlier pieces were almost all imaginative vehicles of some sort, preoccupied with motion and time. In recent years, I have been more intrigued by musical instruments.
The work is also changing formally and technically. The earlier pieces were made exclusively of rusted metal. I then began painting the found objects, introducing color into the work. I am now starting to combine rusted objects with other found objects of glass, wood, plastic, etc. I have also begun to electrify some pieces with elements that light up, turn around, or contain bubbling water. The techniques used to combine the objects have grown more refined and sophisticated over time.
As my work unfolds, I find myself intentionally combining more unlikely materials within a piece. Through form and color I want to manipulate the objects to convey a mood, and to reflect my growing awareness of the interconnection of all things.