ABOUT

Mark Spencer

Born: July 26, 1949, Quincy, Massachusetts

Artists, if they care or have the courage to bear it, are called to job and responsibility. The work is to slog through the quicksand of metaphysics to a solid ground of meaning. We may not make it or find it, but the life long process of trying is what gives the individual artist and collective society its integral identity, meaning, and purpose. We are like Solomon, intellectually and philosophically bouncing around, trying at once to expose ourselves to the ominous power and glory of God or Life.

Working alone and grappling with this simple-sounding but harrowing question throughout his painting career has resulted in images imbued with varying degrees of hope, morbidity, dystopian angst, despair, and rapture. Mark has sought to discover meaning in his work, not something all artists want or need to do. When undertaking the search for meaning, you have to find reason, and therefore order. Many of his images elude literal description. His work has never been reasonable. Maybe it is meaningful, and the crucible of time will tell. But it has always been truthful, merciless in how he has scrubbed his images clean of personal delusion. Mark has described his work as a type of post-Surrealism. Surrealism is generally defined to be a formal process stressing the subconscious or non-rational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism, the exploitation of chance effects, or unexpected juxtapositions.

There is the use of the unconscious in Mark's process, and chance effects in painting. But you find this in non-objective painting and painting in general. Yet this would explain part of his process or the inscrutable quality of some of his images.

I find there to be an equally strong link with Symbolism because what unites those older artists and styles is their emphasis on emotions, feelings, ideas, and subjectivity rather than realism. Symbolist works are personal and express ideologies, particularly the belief in the artist's power to reveal truth. These qualities are also to be found in Mark Spencer's work. The work of 19th century Symbolist painter George Frederick Watts, for example, had some early interest for Mark. He said "I paint ideas, not things." His allegories were meant "to suggest great thoughts which will speak to the imagination and the heart."

Mark has aspired to much of this in his career.

Clayton Campbell, from his essay in Beings, The Art of Mark Spencer

Solo Exhibitions

2022.    First Flowers, Mark Spencer- Goldleaf Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2020     Beings, the Art of Mark Spencer-Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2016     NUART Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2014     NUART Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2009     Skotia Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2004     Monotypes, James Reid Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2003     Mark Spencer, Boulder Museum of Fine Arts, Boulder, CO
2002     Beyond Reason, the Art of Mark Spencer, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
2001     Vanier Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2000     Seductions, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1999     Vanier Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1997     Mark Spencer: Paintings and Monotypes, Greenville County Museum, Greenville, SC
1996     Towards the Unobtainable Ideal, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1990     Sena Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
1990     Mark Spencer, Handgraphics, Santa Fe, NM
1977     St. Botolph Club, Boston, MA

Group Exhibitions

2018     NM Capital, Roundhouse, SFCC Faculty Show
2018     Goldleaf Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2017     New Mexico Painters, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM
2016     New Mexico Painters, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM
2014     New Mexico Painters, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM
2011     Faculty Show, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
2009     Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2008     Mark Spencer and Carlos Carulo, Goldleaf Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2007     From Barbizon to Santa Fe, Argos Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2005     Fifteen Santa Fe Artists, Las Vegas Museum of Art, Las Vegas, NV
2003     Re-Representing Representation VI, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
2003     New American Drawings, Fred Kline Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2002     From Realism to Abstraction, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2001     Re-Representing Representation V, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
2000     American Scene II, Van Vechten-Lineberry Museum, Taos, NM
1999     Realism Meets Abstraction, Jenkins-Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997     Waterproof Wallet Art, Albrecht-Kemper Museum, St. Joseph, MO
1997     Erotica ’97, OFFSITE, Santa Fe, NM
1995 The Enduring Inspiration: New Mexico Landscape, Cline Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1995     C.A.S.A. Benefit, Scottsdale, AZ
1995     Hiroshima: 50 Years, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA
1995     Departures and Disclosures, David Rettig Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1995     The Poetics of Painting, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1994     Pleasure of the Palettes, Phoenix, AZ
1994     C.A.S.A. Benefit, Scottsdale, AZ
1992     The John Merriman Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
1992     Peyton Wright Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1991     Amnesty International, Sena Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
1990     CCA Second Annual Invitational
1990     Los Angeles Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
1989     Slaves of New York Show, The Gallery, New York, NY
1987     Loft Show, New York, NY
1986     The Skull Show, Linda Durham Gallery, Santa Fe NM & Beggs Fine Art, Aspen CO
1986     Reinventing Politics, Telluride Ideas Festival, Telluride, CO
1986     The Extended Line, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1986     Alter Ego Show, Sena Gallery West, Santa Fe, NM
1986     Brown University, Providence, RI
1986     The Alcove Show, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1985     Santa Fe in Houston, Alley Theater, Houston, TX
1985     Contemporary Fantasy Drawings, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
1985     Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1984     Dallas Meets Santa Fe, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, TX
1984     A Shared Spirit, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1983     Invitational, Armory of the Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1982     Invitational, Armory of the Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1982     Contemporary American Realism, Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA
1982     Summer Show, Shidoni Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1981     MGM Grand Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
1980     Santa Fe Festival of the Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1980     Santa Fe/Bisbee Exchange, Bisbee AZ & Santa Fe NM
1979     Heydt/Bair Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1979     Santa Fe Festival of the Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1979     Summer Show, Shidoni Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
1978     Images of Women, Starline Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
1978     Art Works on Paper, Armory for the Arts, Santa Fe, NM
1976     State Street Bank, Boston, MA
1975     Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
1974     Copley Society Gallery, Boston, MA
1974     Brockton Fine Arts Center, Brockton, MA
1973     Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1971 Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA

Books & Catalogs

2020 Beings, The Art of Mark Spencer
2017 Local Coloring, Axle Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2014 Contemporary Art of the Southwest, Schiffer Publications
2010 Mark Spencer, The Whirlwind Paintings
2010 Sketchbook Confidential, Northlight Books
2008 100 Santa Fe Etchers, Bell Tower Editions
2006 100 Artists of the Southwest, Schiffer Publications
2005 Fifteen Santa Fe Artists, Bell Tower Editions
2002 Beyond Reason, Frye Museum catalogue
2000 Seductions: A Survey of Paintings, 1980-2000, Gerald Peters Gallery catalogue
1993 Santa Fe Art, Simone Ellis, Crescent Books
1977 Heartswing – Drawings of Mark Spencer

Book Covers

2001 In the Presence of Fear, Wendell Berry, The Orion Society
2001 Barbaric Mercies, Poems by Gaylord Brewer, Gaylord Brewer, Red Hen Press
1998 Chromatic Defacement, Phillip Foss, Chax Press
1991 The Excesses The Caprices, Phillip Foss, Light and Dust Books
1991 Tyuonyi, Phillip Foss, Tyuonyi/Phillip Foss
1982 El Cielo con los Manos, Mempo Giardinelli, Editiones del Norte
1982 Gato Por Liebre, Geoffrey Wolff, Editiones del Norte
1982 La Insureccion, Antonio Skarmeta, Editiones del Norte

Selected Publications & Film

1999 Tortilla Heaven, feature film
1997 The Sound Man, feature film
1990 Art in America, review article
1989 Slaves of New York, feature film
1986 West of the Imagination, public television series
1986 Albuquerque Journal, article
1986 City Quarterly Magazine, article
1986 El Palacio Magazine, image
1980 Albuquerque Journal, article
1979 Albuquerque Journal, article
1978 ArtSpace Magazine, article

Collections

Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
Albuquerque Museum of Art, Albuquerque, NM
Frye Museum of Art, Seattle, WA
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Williams College Museum, Williamstown, MA
Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
John D. Merriam Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA
Dr. Robert Bell Collection, Santa Fe, NM
Frank Ribelin Collection, Dallas, TX
Kathleen Peters Collection, Santa Fe, NM
James Reid Collection, Santa Fe, NM
Jane Smith Collection, Santa Fe, NM
Michael Hurlocker Collection, Santa Fe, NM
Urban Hirsch Collection, Beverly Hills, CA
University of West Virginia, Morgantown, WV
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
The Tia Collection

Teaching

2018 Studio Practices, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
2011 Painting II, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
2010 Painting II, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
2009 Drawing I, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
2008 Drawing I, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM
1997 Cumbria College of Art and Design, October residency, Carlisle, England

Education

1967 - 1971 School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and Tufts University

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