Max Neufeldt & Robert Roan Reliquary of the Heart Monumental Collage-Assemblage

Max Neufeldt & Robert Roan Reliquary of the Heart Monumental Collage / Assemblage 2008
Collage with mixed-media elements, light and digital board and hand drawn work on paper.
Dimensions: 90 h × 33 w × 10 d in
Condition: Very good condition
Signature: Signed by the artists
This monumental vertical collage is a collaborative work by Max Neufeldt (1938–2025) and Robert Roan, created in 2008. Executed on digital board, the piece reflects Neufeldt’s late-period exploration of digitally composed imagery translated into a tactile, object-based format, while maintaining the material sensitivity and symbolic depth that defined his earlier assemblage practice.
The composition incorporates layered imagery and constructed elements arranged in a reliquary-like structure. A heart motif appears prominently, paired with a framed central image—visual devices consistent with Neufeldt’s long-standing interest in memory, devotion, and the transformation of everyday forms into symbolic artifacts. Though digitally generated in part, the work retains a strong physical presence and architectural scale.
Born in Sylvia, Kansas, and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Neufeldt studied at Ohio Wesleyan University and earned his MFA from Pratt Institute. He became closely associated with the California art scene, particularly Venice and Santa Barbara, where he was widely recognized for assemblage works described as “quiet relics of a pre-digital age.” This later collaboration with Roan demonstrates a thoughtful extension of that philosophy into digital media.
Neufeldt’s work was exhibited extensively, including at institutions such as the Pasadena Art Museum, and featured in numerous California art and design publications. Reliquary of the Heart represents a rare, large-scale collaborative work from his late career, bridging analog sensibility and digital process—well suited to a serious private collection or institutional context.