Get caught up in Mark Whalen’s bold, playful art

Date
24 January 2018

A lot has changed since the last time we spoke to artist Mark Whalen. Having turned his attention away from pastel-coloured landscapes and graceful figures, Mark considers his newest work’s media, forms and themes: “I’ve been wanting to create a broader conversation using different mediums over the past few years. All of my attention has been focused on evolving scale, how to make engaging work with size, colour, and textural forms.” Mark’s large-scale canvases depict characters struggling to untangle themselves from unyielding linear structures. The bright colours and playful compositions add humour to the otherwise severe predicaments his characters find themselves in.

His new work is definitely intriguing. The painted plasticine bodies trapped by rigid geometric lines create a metaphor of social immobility. “The figures navigate through colour fields, taking on different forms, compositional arrangements and everyday objects. In my recent exhibition, Pressure, I wanted to convey a sense of “societal stacking,” where the figures are tied down in problematic situations involving humour, drama, and stress,” the artist tells It’s Nice That. Mark has a clear social agenda: to express the pressures of human beings in society. 


The suffocating feeling evoked by the oppressive lines and shapes resonates with the majority of us. His paintings point to the various invisible constraints of everyday life that stand in the way of our desire to break through, do better or move up. Job commitments, difficult relationships, financial constraints or social anxiety create various restrictions that confine our bodies into enclosed spaces.  


“I’m using a subject matter that interests me to create signature iconographies,” Mark explains. His distinct compositions are unique in their combinations of intense colours, bold forms and expressive shapes. Particularly impressive is Mark’s adoption of new textures and large-scale surfaces. “I used to work much smaller, 15 years ago. I have learned a lot and I really love creating with new materials. I’m currently working on a new series of sculptural and canvas works and on a series of new sculptural totems, which is a very fun process,” Mark says. The artist will be exhibiting his new work at the Arsham Fieg Gallery in New York, Edwina Corletta Gallery in Brisbane and Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica. 

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Mark Whalen

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Mark Whalen

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Mark Whalen

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Mark Whalen

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Mark Whalen

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Mark Whalen

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About the Author

Daphne Milner

Daphne has worked for us for a few years now as a freelance writer. She covers everything from photography and graphic design to the ways in which artists are using AI.

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