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[
Right:
Mark Vallen. Blood.
Work in progress. Oil on masonite. 2008. ]
MARK
VALLEN
For a New Realism
Mark
Vallen is one of those rare individuals who fits within
a great tradition - the artist who creates images based
on social observation and empathy for common people.
Proficient
in painting, drawing, and printmaking, Vallen is a unique
chronicler of the American experience and an accomplished
social realist for the early 21st century.
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[
Left: Mark Vallen.
A People Under Command.
Acrylic on canvas. 6' x 8'. 1985. ]
Vallen's
painting shown at left, A People Under Command: USA Today,
is traveling throughout Europe as part of, Fundamental,
an international art exhibit that explores totalitarian
religion at the turn of the 21st century.
The
show tours 4 European cities between Sept. 2007 and June
2008, and offers a timely glimpse into the disturbing world
of global religious extremism.
Next
stop for the exhibit is Brotfabrik Gallery. Berlin, Germany.
Date to be confirmed. For more info, please visit: www.fundamental.org.uk
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Vallen
has begun work on a new series of large scale oil
paintings depicting the ubiquitous palm trees of
his native Los Angeles - on fire and blazing away
against his city's photochemical sunsets.
At
right, the artist is pictured in his studio with
some of his latest canvases.
Photo
by Jeannine Thorpe, April 30th, 2007.
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[
Right:
Mark Vallen. Portrait of Poet, Megan O'Reilly.
Work in progress. Oil on wood. ]
Mark
Vallen's "Art For A Change" Weblog
Dedicated to art theory, commentary
and exhibit reviews
www.art-for-a-change.com/blog
New
Blog Posts - Spiral
Jetty, Big Oil, & LACMA:
Does art and oil mix? Artists
Against The War - A Review: "To mark the 5th
anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq,
Foreign Policy in Focus magazine asked me to write a review
of Artists Against The War, an exhibit of antiwar
art organized and presented by the New York-based Society
of Illustrators." Apostles
of Ugliness - 100 Years Later: "This past Feb.
marked the 100th anniversary of 'The Eight Independent Painters'
exhibit at New York’s MacBeth Gallery. While the event changed
the face of American art and established the country’s very
first avant-garde art movement, the centennial is not likely
to receive any attention from an art world obsessed with
escapism, celebrity and money." The
Unveiling of Robert Scull:
"What’s worth remembering about the Scull auction, is not
so much that it prefigured an era where high finance became
a determining, if not crippling factor in the arts, but
that artists and art lovers still possessed the will to
resist the intrusion of big money."
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www.markvallen.com
is owned and operated by Mark Vallen © All artworks
by Mark Vallen.
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