Investigating Religion: An Interview with Marcus Clarke

I first met Marcus W. Clarke, an MFA candidate at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), in a Research Methods class in 2022, where we bonded over our shared passion for art. As he prepares for his upcoming Thesis show, Feast Day, we discuss his process and a selection of the artworks that will be featured in the exhibition.

Christopher Karr (CK): How do you think you have grown compared to when you started this program?

Marcus Clarke (MC): I didn’t get a BFA. I got a BA in advertising and graphic design from the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). It wasn’t until I got out that my art career formally began. But I never had a real, formal education in art. I showed art for three years, and that’s how I got to UTSA.

When I got here, it was quite a bit of culture shock. I got obliterated during my first semester review. A large part of it is that my work is always talking about religion. The way that I was approaching it at the time was not taken well. It was too sentimental and too on-the-nose.

I think about how I have changed the way that I have approached my art, so that the messaging is more ambiguous and so that it doesn’t push anybody away.

CK: The art world is very liberal-minded, which is in a lot of ways good. However, when it comes to traditional subjects, including religion, I believe that we place contemporary artists and their perspectives into past people’s perspectives too much. Did you feel your art was too obvious in its intent as well?

MC: Obvious, maybe. Maybe it was too sentimental. There was a level of complexity, but once you got past that layer, not much. And the big breaking point for me was when I was a visiting student at Duke, where I took a Contemporary Art and Theology class. There were moments where we talked about certain artists who used religious tropes in spite of religion. An example would be Kazimir Malevich putting Black Square in the corner of his show, The Last Futurist Exhibition (0. 10).

The corner is where typically, in a Russian household, a representation of Jesus and Mary goes. Everyone thought he was obliterating religion and that it was atheistic. There’s also Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ. And you can look at this photograph through the lens of the artist pissing on Christianity, but there’s another lens you can view this artwork from, too. The crucifix is really violent. And by putting it in gallons of piss, Serrano restimulates the violence of the crucifix. That is a more theological interpretation.

CK: I’m reminded of Ai Weiwei smashing a Han Dynasty urn, and the controversy it caused. I want to ask you some more about your religious background. The readings of Christianity are so different. What’s yours, and how does it impact your art?

MC: My dad’s a scientist. My mom is an educator, and she’s Mexican. Because of that, we got baptized Catholic, but went to a Protestant church growing up. But also, faith wasn’t that big in our household. Science was more of the thing we followed. I didn’t grow up in an environment that was trenched in religion.

CK: So, you were allowed to seek religion?

MC: Yes. We did have religious artifacts everywhere, like Virgin Mary’s and crucifixes.

CK: Did you have a cross wall?

MC: We had a cross wall. But these things never got explained to me. Above our sink, we had a shelf that had Aztec and Mayan knick-knacks right next to a crucifix that was also right next to a Virgin Mary. In my art, I pull a lot from that confusion that I had as a kid. I’m also using a lot of things from a Protestant, Evangelical, and overall megachurch consumeristic vibe.

There’s a sculpture in my studio where I have a strobing, LED hand. It’s a translucent hand that I sculpted in epoxy that strobes color lights. It reminds me of megachurches, where they have crazy light and music productions. There’s concerts in them as well.

CK: Is making art intrinsic at this point? Or is it something that you have to plan?

MC: It’s a mix of both. Sometimes, an idea pops in my head and I try it. But other times, I have to do some experimenting. This past year, I’ve gravitated toward more 2D work. Over the summer of 2024, I was dealing with some illness, and it impacted my ability to make 3D work. Working 2D was a lot more manageable, although I am feeling better now. I’m planning on having a really interdisciplinary MFA show later this semester. I have sculptures, 2D work, videos, and even a book.

Marcus W. Clarke, “Censer and Icon,” Greek Orthodox incense censer mounted on oscillating motor with epoxy and LED light hand with metal, wood, candles, velcro, and a motion sensor. 10”x20”x8,” 2024. Courtesy of the artist.

CK: Let’s talk more about that mechanical, strobing LED hand. Why is it mechanical?

MC: It is motion activated! The mechanical nature of it turns it into this automated force or spirit with nefarious ends. It’s so bright, loud, and annoying. It demands your attention. The censer is swung, and it carries incense. A lot of my work is impacted by the dichotomy of religious culture currently. Religion is loud and it’s used for certain political messaging that demands something of you. It’s really aggressive.

CK: And this installation is almost overwhelming in a sense, with the flashing colors and the rapid movement of the hand back-and-forth.

MC: The right side of this work with the wood is quieter, and it makes me think of the idea that a lot of religions have with just going with the flow. In my head, this is a dichotomy. And this piece is called, Censer with Icon. The motion sensor detects us being here. It looks at us the same way that an icon in religion has a relationship with you when it looks at you and you look at it in return.

Marcus W. Clarke. “Christ Triptych,” Rotating woodblock prints on paper with traffic barricade frame, lamp, brass, and liturgical votive with traffic sign post, steel, glass, and candles. 2025. Courtesy of the artist.

CK: Do you have any other artworks that you would like to talk about?

MC: Christ Triptych represents a votive, which is common in Catholic churches. There are candles that viewers will be able to light. I have a memory of going to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, and they had something reminiscent of this work that I’ve made, but they were Irish Catholics.

CK: There’s these triptych panels above the candles, and there’s very abstract imagery in them.

MC: These prints come from my fellowship at the Penland School of Craft that I did. I did a workshop on letter press and laser cutting. So, I laser cut the panels. There was only one image that was etched into the wood initially, Then I cut circles in the wood, making each one independent and able to spin freely.

I rotated the circles on the wood block, and you can see the artifact of it being a woodblock. You can see the zig zag patterns of the wood grain that are evidence of the process. Initially, this triptych was 2D, but I’ve transformed it into a 3D work. The frame of the triptych comes from a reclaimed traffic barrier. For me, this material is a stand-in for gold leaf in old religious painting that represents infinite space. Traffic barriers symbolize the near and the forever far in our contemporary, industrialized world

CK: You could call this Pop Art.

MC: I think it is Pop Art because I’m pulling from industrial things.

CK: Where is this specific image of Jesus from? Is it from memory or a specific source?

MC: This is sourced from a Time Magazine cover in 1971. This was a time where a bunch of hippies were disillusioned with psychedelics and drugs. Some Evangelical preachers saw this as the opportunity to evangelize them. And so, a lot of hippies got baptized. That’s why Jesus looks so hippie-ish.

For me, this print acts like Malevich’s Black Square. This is representational, but this image of Jesus is getting obliterated. It is no longer a valid image. And this is a serious critique of this image of Jesus that we see here, which is Anglo and not historically accurate. Let’s trash it. But another way to interpret this work is that this unrecognizable image of Jesus suggests that God, if you are a believer, is unrepresentable. God doesn’t have a being. We try to give an image to God in Christianity, but in other religions, such as Judaism and Islam, that’s forbidden.

The format of this work is Catholic, using a triptych, while the capitalized 'REPENT' at the bottom aligns more with Protestant traditions.

Marcus W. Clarke, “Frozen Oil and Chosen Vessels,” TV with holographic fan on LEGO roller coaster track with Arduino servo motor, clamp, string, led crucifix, olive oil, anointing oil jar, chalice, bibles, gold confetti, gold chocolate coins, plastic candles, flashlight, LED disco ball, and eucalyptus. 2024. 45m0s. Courtesy of the artist.

CK: I love this video work.

MC: The idea of something being overwhelming is a big part of my practice. Repetition and the attempt to create nonsense are also central to my practice. There’s a lot of things in religion that we repeat over and over. And that repetition either magnifies the meaning or obliterates the meaning. I’m really interested in that.

In my video, you see a flat-screen TV that is propped out from the wall. It plays a sermon of Pastor Steven Furtick, who runs a megachurch in North Carolina. I worked at his church one summer as a graphic designer. I created all of the graphics that are on the screen. On top of it, I have part of a Chance the Rapper track that is on repeat. And it does this for 45 minutes, which is the duration of the sermon. On the left, there’s a clamp to the TV that holds up a shelf with plastic candles and anointing oil. There’s also a holographic fan with blades that spin rapidly. The fan is on a roller coaster track that moves up and down to a motor. And behind it is an LED disco ball, as well as a fog machine that’s out of the frame. Additionally, on the ground, there’s a cast crucifix, with a chalice that holds olive oil. It’s stacked on bibles that have star-shaped confetti and chocolate gold coins.

CK: This repetition of this artwork, with its numerous symbols, remind me of this idea of the rat race of trying to understand God. You go to church, and if you’re devoted, you go week after week. But are you any closer to finding God? I’m certainly not saying that going to church is pointless, but does it sometimes feel like you are stuck in a loop of your own beliefs?

MC: I definitely wonder that. A lot of what I am doing is trying to understand God. I’ve been fed so much messaging in Christianity. But when I open up the Bible, I find that it is full of paradoxes. I am trying to think of how I can pull away from the linearity and fake notion of progress in Christianity. 

I’m not trying to tell people what to do or what to believe. The point of my art is to ask questions about religion. For better or for worse, I am always thinking about my audience. I’m not sure if an audience that has not had a personal experience with Christianity can be my audience. I certainly think atheists can be my audience, but if you don't know the symbology of Christianity, that's where it gets lost.

CK: But there are a lot of things in your art that are tangible. You use things that are known to us, like wood, TVs, and traffic materials.

MC: And I do feel that my art feels well-situated in San Antonio. Mexican Catholicism is prominent here. There are also tons of megachurches throughout the 1604 expressway. This is a unique place for my art to be.

Marcus W. Clarke will be showing his MFA Thesis show, Feast Day, from May 9 to May 27, 2025, at the Dock Space Gallery. There will be a reception on May 10, from 6pm-9pm. The gallery will be open by appointment only.