My course is listed as ‘Fine Art’. We have allocated studio spaces throughout the year. Students spend time in tutorials and seminar groups with other students discussing themes and meanings relating to our work. We are encouraged to look at relevant artists, some of which may have a similar theme or technique in their work respectively. At the end of the course we present a reasonably large exhibition of work.
‘Greed flowers’ may be starting to represent my failings as an artist/person/lover. Desperately I try to rescue the painting, and give it aesthetic quality, but ultimately my work is fruitless. With each layer that is applied, that which came before seems less relevant. I know that all meaning will ultimate be lost in the process, yet still I fight to save something which cannot, by definition, be saved.
The themes of Mark’s paintings are often premeditated and decided prior to the application of paint. Imagery will be conjured at the base layer in the form of various shapes and textures. Paint is subsequently applied in an expressive manor, using meditative techniques, some documented by those who practice ‘automatic drawing’. A combination of paint and varnish is then used to reveal the hidden esoteric patterns within.
