|
This selection gives an idea of the range of Mark's paintings.
Please go directly to paintings such as Port
in a Storm or the Parachute Jump
or simply scroll down through the paintings
Parachute
Jump
| I once took part in a charity parachute jump
- never again! Many of us will face situations
analogous to a parachute jump, be it a change
of job, moving house, or any other activity
that requires a leap into the unknown. |
|
Mrs
Jenkins' Sunflowers
| Based on a local newspaper report and photograph
of Mrs Jenkins's prize sunflowers. I added the shed
and jealous neighbour glowering over the fence. |
|
Dreaming
(Courtesy of Mrs Christine
Bowen of Risca)
|
A young Risca friend, Wayne Bowen,
provided the inspiration for this one:
Are the bubbles prayers or wishes?
Does the hammer and sickle motif represent a bubble
that burst?
A dream that faded and died?
Does the railway line provide an escape route?
Or the rugby pitch a field of dreams?
|
|
Port in a Storm
'The East Usk lighthouse' at Nash. I painted this when
I heard that a friend's father was dying. I wanted to
identify with that family in their crises and to affirm
that their faith in Christ can help us weather the most
violent of storms.
>> go back to top
|
Jack's Pill
I like the elongated format in a painting and the muddy
expanse of Newport's 'Jack's Pill' provided an excuse
to paint one.
I am informed that this was the site of the town's
ship building ventures. If so, I hint at this in the
painting, whilst the decaying wooden wharves recall
Newport's maritime past. Note the ubiquitous discarded
shopping trolley, the obligatory abandoned car sinking
into the oozing mud and the marooned lavatory seat:
all treasures revealed at low tide. In painting this
picture from left to right I found the mud had assumed
this strange surrealist pink. I did not object to this
however and have left it stand as a hymn to the River
Usk mud.
|
The Dudley Wharf
| A sand batching plant, now gone, close by the
location of the new Arts Centre and the site of
the 'Newport Ship' archaeological discovery. |
>> go back to top
|
Golden Pylon
|
Remember the drought of 1976? Experts forecast
that summer droughts would be normal events due
to 'global warming'. This is a 'composite' Newport
allotment scene - a little bit Maindee, a little
bit Maesglas. Look out for the Benny Hill hose
pipe gag, and there's also an 'art joke' in the
reference to Van Gogh's wicker chair. See if you
can spot it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Courtesy of Mr Richard
Frame of Newport)
|
The Nativity
It is impossible to be interested in painting in this country
without being aware of the influence of Stanley Spencer (1891-1959).
He would set biblical subject matter in contemporary settings,
usually in his native village of Cookham in Berkshire. "
I believe all things that happened in the bible happened in
Cookham," he once remarked, thereby attesting to a somewhat
flawed doctrine and askew theology perhaps.
He sought to render the biblical message fresh and relevant,
and I attempted a similar thing here by setting my own Nativity
in my mother's back garden. There is again a seasonal ambiguity,
to which my mother commented on the fact that I'd painted
one of the trees as though it were summer and another as if
it were winter. "That's not very realistic," she
remarked, to which I responded with the question, "When
was the last time you looked out of your kitchen window to
see the three wise men and the Virgin Mary sat out on your
back lawn?"
The painting is a deliberately considered conundrum in which
various anachronisms and religious symbolism are juxtaposed
against contemporary garden furniture. Although the sun is
shining there are no shadows, an attempt to create an ethereal
and esoteric atmosphere. The Christ child looks out from the
central group of figures to observe a jumper hanging on a
rotary line, a reference to the crucifixion and the reason
why he has come into the world.. Meanwhile, a peacock, the
most regal of birds, bows it's head and unruffles it's fine
plume of feathers to acknowledge that one more majestic than
he is here - the King of Kings and Lord of Lords >>
go back to top
Have Toothbrush, will Travel
A self portrait made whilst deliberating whether to
remain in a Cardiff flat or to move on elsewhere.
|
Reviews of Mark's work
To read a review of Mark Williams exhibition
>>> Buzz Magazine "It's Not Unusual"
>>> Western
Mail - "Art of the Ordinary"
10/10.03
|
|
|
>> The
Artist >> The Gallery
>> Contact
|
|
