Turtle Neck

Turntable Timmy

We’ve got something a little different from usual today, a look at the art of Mark Fox. I’ve gotten a little obsessed with Mark’s art recently, his character paintings have an other-worldly feel but the subjects and environments are very real.

Thunder Boldt

The main thing I like though are the colours! Bright pastels, awesome contrasts, they’re great! It’s a feature that we see a lot in graffiti and street art, and Californian-born Mark has certainly been influenced by this. So we’ve got a short interview with him, and a selection of his paintings that I particularly like.

The Great Escape

WG – How long have you been painting for? What got you started?

Mark - Similar to a lot of artists I have always done art since I was a child. But mostly I did drawings. I have painted for about 10 years now. What got me started doing art was that I have been blessed with the diagnoses of being Bi-Polar. Lucky me right? It came as a natural way for me to express myself and cope with life. Art was always something that I got praised for, so that positivity encouraged me to create art.

Running With Vampires

Rock The House

WG – What artists do you admire/get inspiration from at the moment?

Mark – The recent artists I admire or get inspired from are Michael Seiben, Os Gemos, The Clayton Brothers, and Andy Kehoe, Daniel Johnston.

Nerds (Beautiful People) - WG's favourite i think!

WG – Where do you get the ideas for the themes of your artwork?

Mark - Ideas usually stem from my life experiences or from what I see in the daily interactions of others. Usually the ideas come as I sit down and paint with no plan in mind and kinds free form into the final image.

Mr Blue

WG - What materials do you use when you paint?

Mark - Materials I use are acrylic paint, spray paint, oil pastel, paint pens, to create my images on wood panels or Canvas.

WG - How has graffiti/street art influenced your art?

Mark - I been attracted to the raw distinct styles and images you find from a lot different artists. How it is created fast and improvised leaving drips and expressive characteristics. Defying the rules of getting your art seen to the world unlike the traditional approach of Galleries. Those are few things that appeal to me. This has inspired my art in many ways.

Homely But Happy

HillBilly

WG - What’s your favorite time of the day?

Mark - Midnight! I am a night owl and I come alive when the freaks come out! And when the 9 to fiver’s fade away! I feel creative under the moon time not the sun time!

Feathered Man

Devil Music

WG - What music are you into?

Mark - Music for my listening pleasure would have to be artists such as Awol-One, Anti pop consortium, Aesop Rock, Kool Keith, El-P, Hieroglyphics, Swayzack, Boards of Canada, Kid Koala, Dj Shadow, Kut chemist, The Suicides (WG - Great list!)

Devil Inside

3 Black Crows

Mark’s website is cool and features a variety of his work, as does his flickr gallery, go look! Some of Mark’s works are for sale via flickr and Ebay, you can find him on Twitter (@markfoxart) and MySpace.

Thanks again to Mark Fox for taking the time out to talk!

Have a look at some of the artist interviews with a Brazilian theme, got a great set of photos from Sao Paulo artist JONS and another Sao Paulo warrior, GUI.