Work held in public/private collections

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National Gallery of Australia

Palestinian Mission - London, UK

Ferens Art Gallery – Hull, UK

Work held in private collections in New York, Australia and throughout the UK

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National awards and prizes

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2017  Commendation Award, Nottingham City Arts and The Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham

1995  Northern Arts Awards for Artists

1987 Ferens Art Gallery Purchase Prize

1983 Sunderland Polytechnic Travelling Scholarship

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Exhibitions

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Solo

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2022 - I AM SOMEBODY, Assembly House (Newcastle Arts Centre), Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

2021 - THE SCREAM, Live performance, Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

2019 - CUP OF LIFE, Biscuit Tin Studios Gallery, Newcastle, UK

2018 - CUP OF LIFE, Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery, Nuneaton, UK

2018 - CUP OF LIFE, The North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford, UK

2017 - CORRUPTION TO REDEMPTION, The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers

           Newcastle upon Tyne, UK (live audio visual performance)

2015 - BLURRED, Three Tanners Bank North Shields, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

2013 - SUPPRESSION, Rook Lane Arts, Frome, UK

2012 - FEAR and LOATHING,  67B Gallery, Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

1993 - SERIOUS MEN, High-Street Billboard and School Hall, Sacriston, UK

1990 - ‘1989’,  Southwark College Gallery, London

1989 - PORTRAITS & PAINTINGS ,  Tricycle Gallery ,London

1988 - ‘1987’,  Casson gallery, Eastbourne, UK

1985 - MEN,  Playhouse Gallery – Newcastle, UK

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Selected Group Shows

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2023 Alertism at CollectConnect - COLLECTCONNECT.BLOGSPOT.COM

2022 Animate - Australian Animation Film Festival 

2020/21 Baltic Open 2020, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK

2020 Haus A Rest Zine Issue 7 - Mental Health (on line portal)

2020 Art of Caring, St Georges Hospital, London

2019 Art of Caring, St Georges Hospital, London

2018 Is the spectacle that the sun never sets, System Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

2018 Just Experimenting (playing with sexual edge of film), Centre for Sex and Culture, San Francisco, USA 

2018 'Traumascapes & Landscapes of the Interior', IMH Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK

2018 Art of Caring, St Georges Hospital, London

2017 Art of Caring Exhibition 2017, The Conference Centre Gallery, St Pancras Hospital, London

2017 Art for the Heart, Parliament House, Melbourne, Australia

2017 The Art of Caring, St George's Hospital in Tooting, London

2017 Middlesbrough Art Weekender, Middlesbrough, UK

2017 Here and Now Exhibition 2017,  IMH Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK

2017 Rencontres Traverse Vidéo 2017, Toulouse, France

2016 Alienation,  The Ground Floor Gallery, New York, USA

2016 Alienation,  James Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia, USA

2016 The Art of Caring, The Rose Theatre, Kingston , London

2016 Perceptions of the Figurative, 5th Base Gallery, London

2015 Pure Painting, BAR Gallery, London

2015 The Art of Caring, The Rose Theatre, Kingston, London

2015 Discorporate Bodies5, The Unstitute (on line portal) - UK

2014 Toride International Video Projection Contest, Toride City – Japan

2014 Ouseburn Open Studios Biscuit Tin Studios, Newcastle, UK

2014 Jawspring , Wimbledon Village Hall, London

2013 Biscuit Tin Artists, Van Mildert College,  Durham, UK

2013 The Late Shows, Biscuit Tin Studios ,Newcastle, UK

1996 Open Studio Show,  Childers Street Studios – London

1994 M.A. Show, University of Northumbria – Newcastle,UK

1994 Middlesbrough Open, Middlesbrough Art Gallery – Cleveland, UK

1992 Spring & Autumn Show, South Yorkshire Art Gallery – Doncaster, UK

1990 JP Portrait Award - Four selected works, Broughton House Gallery, Cambridge, UK

1989 John Player Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery – London

1988 John Player Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery – London

1988 Richmond Open, Richmond Print Gallery – Melbourne, Australia

1987 4th Humberside Print Open, Ferens Art Gallery – Hull, UK

1987 Staff Show WSCAD, Maltings – Farnham, UK

1987 On a Plate, Serpentine Galley South, London UK

1987 On a Plate WSCAD,  Farnham, UK

1986 9th Bradford Print Open, Cartwright Hall – Bradford, UK

1985 Printers Progress, Carlisle Art Gallery – Carlisle, UK

1984 Contemporary Printmakers, Playhouse Gallery – Newcastle, UK

1984 3rd Mini Print Biennale, Tallergaleria Fort – Barcelona

1983 8th Mini Print Open, Pratt Graphics Center – New York

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Radio

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2017      Corruption to Redemption                            Rounded Radio, London

2015      In deep water (sound art piece for video)      SoundArt Show | Series 2: Episode 7 by Claire Kearns

2015      My Music back catalogue interview                Hive Radio – Trevor Johnson

2015      Artist Blogs                                                 Hive Radio – Another Music in a Different Kitchen

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Education

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1994 
University of Northumbria - MA Fine Art

1992 
University of Durham - PGCE

1984 
Sunderland Polytechnic - BA (Hon) Fine Art (2-1)

1981 
Sunderland Polytechnic - Foundation Studies, Art & Design

 

About Mark Carr

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Mark was born and educated in the North East of England, where he currently resides and works. His heritage is working class. 

 

Art

            Mark has been a practicing artist for almost forty years, exhibiting extensively in the UK and occasionally in Europe, North America and Australia. He has work held in: the National Gallery of Australia; the Palestinian Mission, London; the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull and private collections around the world. He was twice selected for the BP, National Portrait Award, London. He gained: a BA (hons) Fine Art, University of Sunderland, 1984; a PGCE, Durham University, 1992; MA Fine Art, University of Northumbria, 1994. Mark has supported his art practice with a wide variety of part-time employment, including work as a teacher, a community support worker, a sport and remedial masseur and a white water rafting guide.  

 

Writing

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            Words have always been an integral part of Mark’s art practice. He has combined prints with poetry, live performance art with dialogue, and lyrics for songs. He has been writing poetry for over twenty five years taking his inspiration directly from the landscape. Most of this poetry is for private reading and expression, but Mark has had work published in the Consilience Journal, won third prize in the 2013, Newcastle City Council Poetry Competition, has been long listed for inclusion in the Butcher’s Dog poetry magazine and was recently selected for the Erbacce Poetry Prize, with his poems included in the Spring 2024 erbacce journal. Since his last art exhibition in 2022, he has been concentrating his creative output on writing, completing his first novel - Cardboard City, and his first play – That Language.

 

Music

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            Mark formed, played and composed songs in a number of North East bands through the late 70’s to the mid 80’s, playing in clubs and pubs across the region and in London. In the late 90’s and early 00’s he played guitar in a retro punk band, playing clubs, pubs and festivals across NE England. Around 2000 he started to produce and record his own music under the band name ARMCHAIRANARCHISTS, which in 2013 culminated in the release of his first album ‘Corruption’.  His second album, released in 2021, 'Liebe - Hata - Stultitia' (Love, Hate, Stupidity) was recorded through a ten month period of lockdown. Each song had an art video to accompany it, made in collaboration with Trevor Johnson. In 2022 he released an EP entitled ‘Geordie Voice’ and is currently working on his third album.  Original music and sounds are an integral part of the art-videos he produces; the visuals for these videos are rarely conceived without the sound. Mark has also written two children’s musicals, which were performed in primary schools in N E England.

 

Voluntary and Community Work

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          Mark has been involved in voluntary community work since his early 20’s, contributing and helping to coordinate many fun days, music festivals, mural paintings and bonfire designs, both in the NE of England and in Somerset. From 1998 to 2001 he was a hospital radio presenter and ward visitor at the RVI, Newcastle. In 2015 he wrote an artist blog for Hive Radio, a community radio station running out of South Tyneside. From 2017 -2020 Mark worked as part of a cooking team at the ‘People’s Kitchen’, Newcastle, providing good quality meals for people living on the margins of society. In 2022 Mark presented a bi-weekly radio show (Music from the Outside) on Star and Shadow Community Radio, Newcastle.  

 

​Outdoor Pursuits

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            Mark has been a keen long-distance walker since his teenage years. In 2011 and 2012 he devised, walked and mapped a route from Inverness through the Cairngorms and Tussocks to Drymen, entitled - The East Highland Trail. In 2013 he designed a website to promote the route. In 2016 an article about this trail written by Mark was published in Cicerone Magazine.

 

Travel

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            Mark has been exploring other countries since the late 1970’s. In 1982 he won a travelling scholarship from the University of Sunderland, which he used to travel throughout Europe taking in as much art as he could. In 1988 he took a round the world journey, exploring Bermuda, New York, Vancouver, San Diego, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. In 1990 he took a further journey to India and Australia. Subsequently, he has had a number of further visits to Australia and many capital cities of Europe. However, Scotland remains his favourite place in the world, he is quoted to say, ‘To be walking alone in the highlands of Scotland is a journey that has never been surpassed.'

 

Food

          Mark has been a passionate cook since his early 20’s with particular interest in vegetarian, Italian and Indian cuisine. He self-published a vegan cook book in the mid 90’s entitled ‘A taste of Vegan’.

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My partner

 

        Mark's final and most important passion is his life-long friend and partner, his wife Brenda. She has been his muse, his most passionate supporter, his steadying ship, his love… his life.

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Publications and Reviews

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                 Images                    Les Rencontres Traverse Video, 20 Ans                            2017

                                                JPS National Portrait Award Catalogue                            1989

                                                Forth Humberside Print Exhibition Catalogue                   1987

                                                Ninth British International Print Biennale Catalogue          1986

                                                Iron Press Magazine                                                     1985

                                                                                                           

                 Articles   

                                                NARC magazine, August (article)                                   2022

                                                The Working Artist, October                                          2021

                                                NARC magazine Nov/Dec (interview and review)             2020

                                                The Oxford Times (interview and review)                       2018

                                                Les Rencontres Traverse Video, 20 Ans (review)              2017

                                                Somerset Guardian (interview and review)                     2013

                                                City Limits (London)  (review)                                       1990

                                                Ten Years of JPS National Portrait Award (review)           1989

                                                Tricycle Gallery Programme (review)                              1989

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