Rob Strati Tells us About His Recent Work and New Exhibition

Rob Strati, Fragmented Black and Gold, photo by Jorge Morocho

By NOAH BECKER June 3, 2025 

I met Rob Strati a few years ago after being immediately drawn to the unique sensibility of his work—delicate yet bold, abstract yet deeply personal - with the odd yet satisfying use of broken plates. There was something about the way he approached material, the historical aspect, and form that stayed with me. Since then, I’ve followed his evolving practice with admiration, watching his career grow through a series of thoughtful and well-received exhibitions at galleries and museums across the country and beyond.

Whitehot Magazine recently caught up with Strati on the eve of his latest exhibition—this one especially meaningful, as it opens in his hometown, a place that continues to shape his story as both an artist and a person.

What does the title Fragmented mean to you, both personally and artistically?

Fragmented to me is a kind of aggressive change where things (objects, society, identity) that once seemed solid are broken apart and can never be put together in the exact same way again. Personally, I believe this can become the starting point for something new. Artistically, it’s an invitation to let go of control, to engage with chaos and discover realities emerging from what remains.

Rob Strati, Fragmented in Blue with Kites and Monks, photo by Jorge Morocho
 

How did the breaking of a single plate become the catalyst for this body of work?

It was an accident. My wife Jocelyn dropped a plate we had inherited from Barbara, her mother. We kept a large fragment of it on the kitchen island. What I had only seen as a blue and white geometric pattern turned out to actually be figures and birds within a landscape. When I saw these bits of a story, I had a vision of the world beyond the fragment. I saw figures moving through this other world and I wanted to capture it. That first piece was really a love letter - both to Barbara and to Jocelyn - and that emotional truth became the foundation for the series. From there Jocelyn posted it on Facebook and 100’s of people started liking and commenting to a degree I had never seen before - that’s when the gesture became the beginning of the series.

Why pair broken porcelain with ink drawing? What’s the relationship between the two?

The patterns in the plates have a history and a kind of permanence even in their broken state. Using a pen for me is about capturing what I envision with kind of immediacy on the paper. It’s not about perfection, but more about bringing something to life. It does involve matching the pattern on the plate to a degree, but the pen allows me a sense of spontaneity and freedom. However, once I make a mark on paper, it’s committed; I can adjust it in certain ways, but cannot remove it. There is a tension and risk in that, but it is exciting as well.

Rob Strati, The Fall and the Mountains, photo by Jorge Morocho
 

Do you see these pieces as personal stories, shared ones, or both?

Both. I select the pieces because I am drawn to them and what they represent from my own life. But, these plates have crossed time and have been preserved over generations and through changing cultures. Many people have told me that they grew up with these patterns in their home or their grandparents’ homes. So, it opens everything up and creates a great deal of interconnectedness. The work becomes a space for other people to find their own stories.The fact that all of those stories enter the experience of the work is important to me.

Rob Strati, The Precedent, photo by Jorge Morocho

How does showing this work in your hometown affect its meaning for you?

Columbus is where a lot of my family lives, it is where I grew up, where I went to school, where I did my first guerrilla piece at the Wexner Center in 1992. So being invited back now by Margaret Wunderlich to exhibit this body of work and at her newly opened Chaos Contemporary Craft Gallery put more emphasis on the meaning of how we integrate the past into the present. Connecting with people I went to elementary school with and people I worked with in technology reminds me that art has always been woven through my life and often in unexpected ways.

Has your early guerrilla work at the Wexner influenced how you see institutions now?

Yes, that project - Adam and Eve in the Grid of Eisenmann- was really about trying to enter a conversation I felt excluded from at the time. I was an artist and art history student on the outside of this incredibly influential new museum, and I wanted to disrupt the idea that institutions were the sole arbiters of meaning. From street installations and exhibitions in alternative venues, challenging the notion of what defines an art space, to working with the Guggenheim on their digital experiences. Over time, my relationship with institutions continues to evolve. Coming up in September I will have a solo show at the Ships of the Sea Museum in Savannah, working with the Director Molly Carrott Taylor and Curator Tania Sammons who are thinking deeply about how museums can interact with communities now and in the future. That early friction has turned into a more nuanced collaboration - but I still believe in questioning who gets to decide what’s valuable.

Rob Strati, Fragmented in Red with Ships and Clouds, photo by Jorge Morocho
 

Do you see your work in dialogue with traditions like kintsugi or craft-based repair?

I didn’t consciously think of kintsugi when I first made these pieces. But, I love the aesthetic philosophy of wabi-sabi, which is connected to kintsugi and how that all ties into modern and contemporary art movements like Fluxus and Arte Povera. I have been influenced by all of that over time. If I think of a dialogue between them, it would be about Kintsugi taking the flawed and fragmented experiences in life and using artistry to rebuild the world and my “Fragmented” series using art to reimagine it.

Rob Strati, The Chase, photo by Jorge Morocho
 

How do you think about time in your practice - emotionally or materially?

I think about how the world and the perspectives reflected in the designs have changed from when the plates were originally made. These objects carry their messages into our present in subtle and discrete ways - often in the background of people’s lives for decades or centuries. I see that when people look at the “Fragmented” pieces they spend a lot of time looking at the details of both the drawing and the plate patterns. This allows for a unique reexamination of the past and a reflection on how our present is both impacted by history and actively transforms it. 

How do you balance intimate subject matter with broad, public reception?

When the original piece I made for my wife Jocelyn resonated so broadly, it sort of naturally established that balance in the beginning. It was startIing for me at first because that specific piece was an emotional gesture. My earlier work was much more cerebral and this new attention made me feel exposed. Yet it made me realize I was hiding in certain ways behind my earlier work and that it was ok to express something intimate. I don’t think I have a clear strategy for balancing all of this, but I have learned that more freedom, openness, and honesty can lead to greater levels of connectedness.

Rob Strati, Fragmented in Blue with Windmills Bridge and Boats, photo by Jorge Morocho
 

Where is your work heading next - conceptually or in terms of material exploration?

I’ve started working on larger scale pieces with multiple plates - one of which was recently commissioned for the new Delta One Lounge at Logan Airport. 

I’m also building on a new subseries entitled Service, which includes The Precedent, a work in the exhibition at Chaos Contemporary Craft Gallery. The works in Service use fragmented historical plates with patterns like the White House, the Capitol or George Washington, to explore our current political landscape through historical references. The price of each piece is tied to a historical year - 1776, 1789, 1797, 2024 - challenging the way we traditionally assign value (by size, provenance, supply and demand) and exploring value as a political act. 

I’m also working on a larger project examining spaces where different cultures and histories collide. I want to keep pushing the line between domestic object and cultural critique…how we preserve and how we break things open. WM

Chaos Contemporary Craft Presents "Fragmented" – A Solo Exhibition by Rob Strati
June 8–July 20, 2025 | Opening Reception: June 8, 2-4 PM