Artist: Mark Verdoes

Hahnemühle German Etching Print 310 grams, 106x80cm, in dibond, framed with  museumglass, edition of 5 + 1 EA).

Also available as print without frame.

According to Mark Verdoes (The Hague, 1960) art should be an experience, a sensory stimulation. When people are confronted with something they do not immediately understand, their mind is forced to transcend the obvious. By evoking original thoughts, he hopes to open doors to other dimensions. Verdoes’ work is a reflection of how he experiences the world, a controlled arrangement of seemingly coincidental processes in which everything is connected with everything. The result is his contemporary vision on our universe.
The recurring principle in Mark Verdoes’ work is “all is changing shape continuously”. With his unique blend of techniques and materials he plays with the elements and laws of nature (“the guided coincidence”), while at the same time reasoning every step and controlling the process to the smallest detail.
Marks fascination with these hulls – skins – of traditional fishing boats, started when travelling through India.

Primarily wooden boards tied together by rope and wooden pens, the hulls are rubbed with cashew oil to make them waterproof and weather resistant. Their daily journey out to sea exposes them to the elements; salt, sun, sand, water and wind. The skins endure, remember and change continuously. They are about life: past, present and future. Struck by the connection to his other work, Mark created the photo series ‘Skin’ in 2017.

Studying his raw photo material, Verdoes repeatedly came across photos that attracted each other, as if they belonged together. That is when the idea sprouted to combine two images into one. Fairy-tale structures, pulled out of context, form a narrative landscape full of scars, emotions, life and history: the mystery of the skin.

Mark Verdoes started his career as a photographer for Esquire, Avantgarde and other magazines. Following his need for artistic freedom, he developed into a versatile, multi-disciplinary artist. Over the years has he has built an impressive  portfolio strongly inspired by the Tao and nature with exhibitions since the early nineties.

Education:
1997-1999 Fine Arts, Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague
1985-1988 Photographic design, MTS Photograhy & Photonica, The Hague

Mark Verdoes lives and works in the Netherlands.