Mark Harris’ current work deals with ideas of defense and offense. His most recent series, A Continuous Defense, is a group of small collages and paintings that depict landscapes and seascapes crossed by alien-looking architectural structures that take over buildings, trees and boats.
Although small in scale, the works are epic in subject, suggesting possible visions of the future or alternative histories.
Harris takes found images, often vintage black & white photographs, or images taken from books; sometimes photographs of old paintings, and draws or paints onto them over the existing image, creating a whole new dimension to the work.
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Mark Harris’ current work deals with ideas of defense and offense. His most recent series, A Continuous Defense, is a group of small collages and paintings that depict landscapes and seascapes crossed by alien-looking architectural structures that take over buildings, trees and boats.
Although small in scale, the works are epic in subject, suggesting possible visions of the future or alternative histories.
Harris takes found images, often vintage black & white photographs, or images taken from books; sometimes photographs of old paintings, and draws or paints onto them over the existing image, creating a whole new dimension to the work.
This process of making the work and the journey an image is taken on is a significant element for Harris. An image may be created in photographic form, which may then be reproduced into a book, printed on mass scale and then over time end up in a charity shop which Harris then finds, reacts to and turns it back into a unique piece once again. The result is a unique body of work that exudes history and intrigue.
Born in 1971, Harris graduated from MA Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in 1998 and since then has exhibited widely in London and throughout the UK. In 2006 he was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize and in 2008 was selected to show with Saatchi Online at Scope Art Fair.