MARK RAUTENBACH

(1964 Pietermaritzburg, South Africa)

Mark Rautenbach is a Cape Town artist who has also worked as Mark Splendid, Mark Maria and Splendid Miriam. He works in a variety of media, including material which is considered waste matter, as well as textiles and paper. Rautenbach’s practice is often process-based, and draws on traditional craft techniques.

For Rautenbach, matter is the means he uses to express memory and meaning. He looks at the unseen forces and tensions which are inside and in between visible material things. The textural languages he uses guide his creative procedures by inviting consideration of their inherent potential and associations. Through ritualistic repetition – drawing on the arcane and everyday, the collective and personal – Rautenbach uses his meditative works to embody psychological and cultural patterns, giving form to invisible spaces. Physical conglomerations – whether of thread, steel safety pins or glass – symbolise emotional connections.

By renegotiating found objects and materials from shops, recycle bins, gifts and disassembled artworks, Rautenbach manifests forms which exhibit his alchemical journey: his commitment to be present with all things even when they are uncomfortable. To delve into, uncover, bind and cocoon his being – to transform into something beyond expectations.

Rautenbach lectured Design for a number of years at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), and education recurs as a theme in his work, along with identities born out of narratives – represented through yarn. Rautenbach has exhibited at the Iziko South African National Gallery, Everard Read, Open 24 Hrs, Spier, David Krut Projects and Ebony/Curated, among others.

EDUCATION

1983-7: BAFA, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg

EXHIBITIONS/COMMISSIONS

2023

What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2022

Pigments of The Alchemist’s Imagination and The Non-Dual, Solo exhibition, Everard Read CIRCA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Ariadne’s Thread, solo, Cubicle Series, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2021

PHANTASMAGORIA, group exhibition, RK Contemporary, Riebeek Kasteel, South Africa

OASIS, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

PLANE, group exhibition, Deepest Darkest, Cape Town, South Africa

PERSISTENCE OF VISION, group exhibition, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa

IN CONVERSATION, group exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

THESE WALLS HAVE EYES, group exhibition, Haas, Cape Town, South Africa

THE TROUBLED ARCHIVE, group exhibition, THE LABYRINTH PROJECT, Ellis House Art Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa

IN CONVERSATION WITH COLOUR SYMPHONY, Rupert Museum, Jan Rupert Art Centre, Graaff-Reinet, South Africa

WORLD WORLDING, solo, OPEN 24 Hrs, in partnership with Ebony/Curated, Cape Town, South Africa

2020

[U]Ntelling [S]Tories, Residency, DISTANCIO/TRANÅS, Distancio, Sweden

HARD, BUT SOFT, group exhibition, Gallery at Glen Carlou, Klapmuts, Cape Town, South Africa

2019

A SPLENDID SUMMER SEND-OFF;  40 YEARS 40 PLUS ARTISTS, group exhibition, Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town, South Africa

UNDERPINNINGS, solo exhibition, Ebony/Curated, Franschhoek, South Africa

TEXTILE, group exhibition, curated by Amy Pike for Dyman Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

CONVERSATIONS IN TEXTURE, group exhibition, curated by Khumo Sebambo for Berman Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa

SMALL ROOM, group exhibition, curated by Sarah Grace for Priest, Johannesburg, South Africa

2018

FORWARD?FORWARD!FORWARD…, group exhibition, performance and sculptures, University of Stellenbosch Museum, Stellenbosch, South Africa 

HOW LONG CAN I HOLD YOUR ATTENTION FOR?/ HOW MUCH PRESENCE CAN I GIVE YOU?, performance, Jewellery as a Social Object, Contemporary Jewellery Forum, Seminar and Exhibition, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

NOONOO INDEX, FNB Joburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

TOUCHWOOD, group exhibition, 203 Percy Osborn, Durban, South Africa

ARTISTIC ACTIVISM GRANT, Centre For Artistic Activism, SWEAT and ASIJIKI, Johannesburg, South Africa 

KZNSA Gallery, Park Gallery group exhibition, Durban, South Africa

Candice Berman, group exhibition, Johannesburg, South Africa

2017

A ROMULUS REBUS, group exhibition, curated by Priest, Fried Contemporary, Pretoria, South Africa

Johannesburg Art Fair, Johannesburg, South Africa

Ebony/Curated, group exhibition, Franschhoek, South Africa

DREAM RIFT, group exhibition, Eclectica Design And Art, Cape Town, South Africa

DAWNING NEW NARRATIVES, performance, Rhodes Memorial, Cape Town, South Africa

PROUD, group exhibition, The Studio Door, San Diego, USA

OUMA se KIND, performance, Cape Town, South Africa

Residency/Workshop: Centre for Artistic Activism, SWEAT and ASIJIKI, Johannesburg, South Africa

MOTHERTONGUE 1, performance, Art Thursdays, Reverie Social Table, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa 

FATHERLAND, performance in live art festival Borderlands, Cape Point, Cape Town, South Africa

BODY SCENOGRAPHY, workshop with Steven Cohen, ICA, UCT, Cape Town, South Africa

VERGING THRESHOLDS, group exhibition, Eclectica, Cape Town, South Africa

MOST BEAUTIFUL OBJECT, nominee, Design Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa

THE SKY OVER BERLIN, installation, 50th anniversary of the Krugerrand, South African Mint and Rand Refinery, World Money Fair, Berlin, Germany

2016

WOMAN’S WORK, group exhibition, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

WHAT'S THE MATTER? Group exhibition, Ebony/Curated, Cape Town, South Africa

DISTRICT SIX MUSEUM PRINT EXCHANGE: District Six Museum, Cape Town, South Africa

MUSE MONTAGE, group exhibition, Eclectica, Cape Town, South Africa

EDUPLATION, performance,group exhibition, David Krut Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa

OPTICAL DIVERSION, group exhibition, Eclectica, Cape Town, South Africa

Commission for Shortmarket Street Club, Cape Town, South Africa

UNHEIMLICH, performance & group exhibition, Woordfees, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

2015

FETISH, performance and group exhibition, Priest, Johannesburg, South Africa

[TERROR]TORY, performance, THE DARK PRECURSOR: International Conference on Deleuze and Artistic Research, Orpheus Institute, Ghent, Belgium

VULEKA, competition, 3rd and highly commended prize, ART B, Bellville, South Africa

 [TERROR]TORY, TEDx 2015, City Hall, Cape Town, South Africa

 [TERROR]TORY, collaborative  performance, Deleuze and Guattari and Africa Conference, University Of Cape Town, Cape Town

Commission for The Test Kitchen, Cape Town, South Africa

Uima Mask Competition, Finalist, University of Iowa Museum Of Art, Iowa, USA

FETISH: group exhibition, Arttec - Epsac Community Art Centre, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, South Africa

DÉCOR Z, group exhibition, Spier, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2014

THE EDUCATOR’S NEW CLOTHES, exhibition, Room, Johannesburg

THE EDUCATOR’S NEW CLOTHES, performance, Cape Town & surrounds, Johannesburg

2012

SOUTHERN INK EXPOSURE 3, International tattoo convention, group exhibition, Cape Town

2011

OPEN BOOKS, group exhibition, Brundyn & Goncalves, Cape Town, South Africa

PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY, group exhibition, Haas, Bokaap, Cape Town, South Africa

2010

SOUTHERN INK EXPOSURE 2, International tattoo convention, group exhibition, CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Group exhibition, Gill Alderman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

These Four Walls, group exhibition, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa

2009

SOUTHERN INK EXPOSURE 1, international tattoo convention, co-curator and exhibitor, CTICC, Cape Town, South Africa

Group exhibition, Gill Alderman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2008

Group exhibition, Gill Alderman Gallery, Kenilworth, Cape Town

2007

WORLD TRIBE, collaboration with Brandon Amronski, Alison Café, Leon, Mexico.

Group exhibition, Gill Alderman Gallery, Kenilworth, Cape Town

Group exhibition, Walkerbay Gallery, Hermanus

2006

INTRODUCING SPLENDID, exhibition, Amoeba Light & Living, Johannesburg

2003

HUMAN GENOME PROJECT, competition finalist, Natural History Museum, Cape Town

2002

MARK MRS LOVE, collaboration with Mrs Love, Obs Cafe, Cape Town

2000

WOMB, solo exhibition, I Cafe, Observatory, Cape Town 

SEX & CULTURE, group exhibition, Gauloise Warehouse, Cape Town.

COLLECTIONS

Iziko South African National Gallery

Rand Refinery Collection

Rupert Museum

Kilbourn Collection

INVESTEC Art Collection

PUBLICATIONS

2021 Grace of Abstraction, Ashraf Jamal, ART THROB, 8 February 2021 

2018 Noonoo Index Catalogue, Lunetta Bartz, MAKER, ISBN 978-0-620-79668-2

2017 Contemporary Performance Almanac 2017 (Volume 4), Edited by Caden Manson and Daniel   Nelson, ISBN-13: 978-1546818854

2015 THE DARK PRECURSOR, International Conference on Deleuze and Artistic Research, edited by  PAULO DE ASSIS and PAOLO GIUDICI, ISBN 978 94 9038 904 8

2014 KNOTWE: ALL THINGS FIBER, http://www.knotwe.com/mark-rautenbach/

ART SOUTH AFRICA, volume 12, issue 4, June 2014

VISI, February/March 2014, volume 70

RESIDENCIES

2022 RESIDENCY:MAGNITUDE; Björkö Konstod; Björkö, Sweden

2020 RESIDENCY:DISTANCIO, Social sculpture residency, Tranås, Sweden

2018 RESIDENCY/WORKSHOP:MAKER,Noonoo Catalogue Index, Johannesburg

2017 RESIDENCY/WORKSHOP: CENTRE FOR ARTISTIC ACTIVISM [NYC], SWEAT and ASIJIKI, Johannesburg