Mark Spain
Artist Mark Spain doesn’t just focus on the one particular genre of art and instead is well versed in landscapes, abstracts and figurative, despite coming from a more graphical background as such. After showing a real zest for art from a young age, supported by some obvious talents, Spain duly attended art college as you might have expected, however at Medway College of Art in his native Kent, Spain chose to study Technical Graphics rather than a more traditional fine art or foundation art to further his creative education. Having said that, Spain soon found his feet in print-making during his course and on leaving opened up a print-making studio in the county of his birth, where he forged and honed etching and collagraph techniques that were going to stand him in good stead.
Spain’s big break arrived in October 1987, after the famous storm that lashed the UK and made the headlines as much for the BBC Weather Centre’s near-cataclysmical failure to predict its onset as much as the damage that it left in its considerable wake. Yet as the old adage goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and in Spain’s case this was very much the case as it turned out. In the aftermath of the great storm that had wreaked havoc on much of the country’s more familiar landscapes, Kew Gardens in London (which itself had borne the brunt of a lot of it) approached Spain inviting him to originate and produce a limited edition etching of Kew. Other commissions came rolling in on the back of this success and raising of his artistic profile, with both NatWest Bank and London’s Dorchester Hotel propositioning Spain with the offer of exciting and CV-enhancing commissions.
Thereafter, Spain witnessed a turnaround in his fortunes and the subsequent opening of many more commercial and corporate doors, and the artist oversaw his etching works published by firstly, CCA Galleries of London and London Contemporary Art, enduring relationships that held strong and worked for both parties over the course of many years and inevitable led to Spain’s work being exposed and purchased across the globe. Alongside of the gallery space that Spain’s work has sought and commanded, his diverse body of art works has also been showcased at high profile art fairs far and wide, including the Chelsea and Hampton Court Show, the Barbican Contemporary Print Fair and the 20th Century British Art Fair, whilst distribution of his individual compositions and collections have encompassed America, Japan, Korea, Australia, Holland and Spain.
With the passing of time and the urge to experiment with his mediums still further, Spain embraced oils and strove to explore its possibilities in relation to his favoured subject matters as well as new ones, thriving on the challenge and possibilities that this threw up. Spain’s oils were used predominantly in the arena of figurative art, which was immediately well received, and in 2000 the artist’s new direction was acknowledged and encouraged in a commercial context on being published by a major art publishing house, with the first edition selling out in next to no time whatsoever. This hunger for Spain’s new work was recognized just a couple of years later in 2003, when he picked up the Up and Coming Published Artist gong by the Fine Art Trade Guild, one of the industry’s leading exponents and loudest voices, who again acknowledged Spain’s new-found popularity by nominating him for Best Selling Artist the following year. Over the last decade Spain has been prolific in the manufacturing of figurative pieces, as his collaboration with Washington Green has spawned increased exposure for the artist, culminating in more exhibitions in galleries throughout the UK, including London’s iconic Harrods department store, as well as in 2010 at the Artexpo in New York.
With Spain’s figurative work now been in existence for the best part of a decade, the artist talks of a perpetual evolvement and expansion of his concepts, which are largely based around the female form, with texture and colouring always been at the forefront of his conscious approach to his compositions. Spain’s latest studies have seen him revisit his landscapes too, with an attention to cities and architecture playing more on his mind and therein being manifest on his canvasses. When addressed on the subject of the artist’s penchant for this perceived chopping and changing over the years, of both styles and muses, Spain notes that his; “Main goals are always to create a certain amount of movement within the image, with particular emphasis on setting a mood and atmosphere.” Adding that he’d; “Like the viewer to be intrigued as to the possible thoughts of the subject, which can only add to the effect of the picture. Pictures I believe must have a life of their own to allow an ongoing interest”.
Spain’s big break arrived in October 1987, after the famous storm that lashed the UK and made the headlines as much for the BBC Weather Centre’s near-cataclysmical failure to predict its onset as much as the damage that it left in its considerable wake. Yet as the old adage goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and in Spain’s case this was very much the case as it turned out. In the aftermath of the great storm that had wreaked havoc on much of the country’s more familiar landscapes, Kew Gardens in London (which itself had borne the brunt of a lot of it) approached Spain inviting him to originate and produce a limited edition etching of Kew. Other commissions came rolling in on the back of this success and raising of his artistic profile, with both NatWest Bank and London’s Dorchester Hotel propositioning Spain with the offer of exciting and CV-enhancing commissions.
Thereafter, Spain witnessed a turnaround in his fortunes and the subsequent opening of many more commercial and corporate doors, and the artist oversaw his etching works published by firstly, CCA Galleries of London and London Contemporary Art, enduring relationships that held strong and worked for both parties over the course of many years and inevitable led to Spain’s work being exposed and purchased across the globe. Alongside of the gallery space that Spain’s work has sought and commanded, his diverse body of art works has also been showcased at high profile art fairs far and wide, including the Chelsea and Hampton Court Show, the Barbican Contemporary Print Fair and the 20th Century British Art Fair, whilst distribution of his individual compositions and collections have encompassed America, Japan, Korea, Australia, Holland and Spain.
With the passing of time and the urge to experiment with his mediums still further, Spain embraced oils and strove to explore its possibilities in relation to his favoured subject matters as well as new ones, thriving on the challenge and possibilities that this threw up. Spain’s oils were used predominantly in the arena of figurative art, which was immediately well received, and in 2000 the artist’s new direction was acknowledged and encouraged in a commercial context on being published by a major art publishing house, with the first edition selling out in next to no time whatsoever. This hunger for Spain’s new work was recognized just a couple of years later in 2003, when he picked up the Up and Coming Published Artist gong by the Fine Art Trade Guild, one of the industry’s leading exponents and loudest voices, who again acknowledged Spain’s new-found popularity by nominating him for Best Selling Artist the following year. Over the last decade Spain has been prolific in the manufacturing of figurative pieces, as his collaboration with Washington Green has spawned increased exposure for the artist, culminating in more exhibitions in galleries throughout the UK, including London’s iconic Harrods department store, as well as in 2010 at the Artexpo in New York.
With Spain’s figurative work now been in existence for the best part of a decade, the artist talks of a perpetual evolvement and expansion of his concepts, which are largely based around the female form, with texture and colouring always been at the forefront of his conscious approach to his compositions. Spain’s latest studies have seen him revisit his landscapes too, with an attention to cities and architecture playing more on his mind and therein being manifest on his canvasses. When addressed on the subject of the artist’s penchant for this perceived chopping and changing over the years, of both styles and muses, Spain notes that his; “Main goals are always to create a certain amount of movement within the image, with particular emphasis on setting a mood and atmosphere.” Adding that he’d; “Like the viewer to be intrigued as to the possible thoughts of the subject, which can only add to the effect of the picture. Pictures I believe must have a life of their own to allow an ongoing interest”.