India Mark
With a background in figure painting and portraiture, still life has become the predominant foundation of India Mark’s practice. Her paintings analyse composition, light and the textural qualities of ordinary objects. Mark aims to make simple, straight forward paintings. Small in scale, her works reference the historical modesty of still life; from Francisco de Zurbarán, to Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, to Giorgio Morandi.
The traditions of the still life genre have consistently informed Mark’s processes. She works tonally and from life, prodding the tension points between visual depth and flatness. The objects she chooses for each painting are small, practical items that reoccur frequently throughout her work. Jars, bottles, cups and other vessels become a system of symbols, almost alphabetical in their repetition. They are broken down into elementary forms, stacked upon one another to create new silhouettes and rearranged over and over again in attempt to understand every compositional possibility.
Born in 1993 in Gerringong, NSW, Australia and now residing in Wollongong, NSW, India Mark graduated with Master of Fine Art (Painting) from the National Art School in 2018. She is a two-time Finalist in the Archibald Art Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and a previous Finalist in the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. Her work is currently held in the collections of The National Art School, Canberra and The Wollongong Art Gallery.
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