Mark believes that paintings are visual explorations of thought by the artist, and that they contain their own unique vocabularies. “What is Art “or “does art have some purpose,” are questions that don’t really come up in a painting. This non verbal language of form, shape, and color rarely provide answers for these questions, and verbal language only seem to have more questions. 

 

Born in Omaha in the early 50s, Marks father taught him how to draw the outline of a head in profile. He crossed the Rubicon with that information, but lacked any formal education in the arts until returning from a tour in Vietnam in the early 70s. He came home from that experience with more questions than answers and decided the best way to get answers was to examine art and aesthetics.

 

Mark has investigated the effects of conceptual art, installations and earth works, and in the early 80s, he received an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and moved to Gillette.  A few years later, he suspended active participation in the arts, and for the next 20+ years, along with his wife Alice, raised four boys. Upon retiring from the City of Gillette in 2015, he reengaged, and is currently painting pictures in Wyoming.