The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Tuesday June 9th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Tuesday June 9th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Tuesday June 9th — —

Mark Whalen

As observed through the eyes of artist Mark Whalen, the world is an obscure and mysterious place. His highly fascinating paintings, ceramics and sculptures explore darkly comic, elegant tableaux alive with futuristic mini-dramas. Sexual play, arm wrestling competitions, and ominous rituals are to be found in all his work. He grants an endearing single-mindedness to his cookie-cutter figures in pursuit of their tiny subversive acts. In short, their bliss depends on staying inside the box, literarily being the strict limits of the particular work, forming an interesting snapshot of intriguing worlds. Whalen incorporates elements of decoration, graphic design and architectural rendering technique – props of our refined civilization – to comment on conventional social mores in a totally unique manner. We love Whalen’s exquisite sense of humor to be found in his work as his fine aesthetic eye for color and form.

All my work is quite small and intricate – it’s an obsession. I use familiarity, surprise and repetition to play with skewed narratives of everyday events.

In all of Mark Whalen’s art science, geometry, illustrated perspective and construction are depicted in outer space environments, as if an alternate universe is starting from scratch. Evoking the rituals of ancient cultures, we see the exaltation of time, erect deities, totems and ritual humans sacrifices. Since 2006, Whalen’s work has been shown in a constant stream of exhibitions in Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Italy and Australia. He was included in 2009’s Apocalypse Wow! exhibition at MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome and more recently SPACE INVADERS at the National Gallery of Australia.

Whalen has appeared in numerous publications such as Juxtapoz, Modart Europe, Arkitip, Nylon, Artist Profile, Australian Art Collector and Monster Children. His work was recently animated for Autolux’s film clip of their single ‘The Science of Imaginary Solutions’, receiving widespread acclaim. His work is held in the National Gallery of Australia, Artbank and Mainland Art collections.

For more information and work by Mark see here