Grace (after Eric Enstrom), 1918/2024
From July 17th through August 13th, a selection of new paintings by Mark Mann entitled Handed-Down, will be on view at The Ulster Habitat ReStore as part of its ongoing artist series established in 2023. The artist’s unique versions of prints and graphic designs of the late 20th century are visually altered to blend the anachronistic and humanistic qualities of modern life; a time in which we strive to process the present and retain an ever-growing quantity of our past. Humbly following in the footsteps of Claes Oldenburg’s 1961 pop art installation, The Store, the exhibition highlights the shifting line between art and commodity and sidestepping the practice of selling art through a gallery system.
Through a mise-en-scène approach to installation, Mann is intent on creating an altered reality where the environment and the art are intrinsically symbiotic. The mediums of print and painting blur and their physical condition is deceptively compromised by artificial damage like UV fading, stains and mold. This is most evident in Ansel Adams, Moonrise in the UV Spectrum, where the effect of intense sunlight from a window exposure has apparently faded horizontal bands across the picture’s surface, but in actuality they are merely lines painted by the artist’s hand. And all the while, the image of a New Mexican landscape is juxtaposed with the silhouettes of houseplants resting on the sill below.
In keeping with the Restore’s commitment to reuse, repurpose and recycle, the artworks on display are inspired by objects one would discover browsing their local thrift store, from the ubiquitous images of mass-production to more obscure keep-sakes of a personal nature. Not unlike a modern-day Rankin/Bass Island of Misfit Toys, these cultural artifacts have been both treasured and discarded, but emerge once again to be rediscovered and revalued by another… and the cycle repeats.
Mark Mann (b. 1970 in Oklahoma City, OK. Currently resides in Shokan, NY). He received a BFA from the College of Santa Fe (Santa Fe, New Mexico) and has exhibited in numerous US and European galleries and art fairs. His artworks have been collected by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Norton Museum of Art, and the Sir Elton John Collection. Most recently, he has exhibited paintings and sculptural projects with the Owen James Gallery and Calico NY.