Mark Bletcher
Degree: BA Fine Art
University: Newcastle University
Graduation Year: 2019
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A hammer lies on the table amidst what looks like fruit, most likely apples. It is a scene that repeats itself, or at least has iterations. Elsewhere, the same hammer reappears. We see other tools: a pair of scissors and a scraper. There’s also more fruit, sometimes scattered on the table, sometimes in a bowl. Yet, if to speak of iterations implies progress, this would be wrong. Rather, Bletcher’s paintings propose multiple possibilities. They engage in a sort of gameplay, inviting us in.
Titles push and pull our understanding. One painting recalls a friend’s visit, the next references Greek mythology. In reality, the content of the paintings is true to both. It feels an artificial distinction to separate life and myth and Bletcher appears keen to avoid painting binaries, rather they merge together. Maurice Merleau-Ponty writes of Cezanne's desire to avoid the "ready-made alternatives suggested to him: sensation versus judgment; the painter who sees against the painter who thinks; nature versus composition”. In many ways, these words feel as valid today as they did in the late nineteenth century. Bletcher’s paintings are unsparing in openness, giving us time to grapple with the painted surface, the subject matter, myth and identity.
Artist Statement
Mark Bletcher (b.1995, UK) lives and works in Newcastle Upon Tyne. He received his BA in Fine art from Newcastle University (2019) and has been recognised for his achievements in painting, drawing and printmaking. Bletcher was a recipient of the Gwen May award from Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (2020) and shortlisted for both the Woon Art Prize (2019) and the Young Contemporary Artist Award (2020). He is a recent recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Award (2023-4) for his work in representational painting. He is a co-founder and director of MinutesOn, a project that builds community through conversations with artists.
Mark Bletcher’s work is dream-like; anxious shapes, curious creatures and strange objects scatter the unreal spaces staged within the work. Sometimes looming figures watch and meddle. There was once a narrative, but it was obscured, and all that remains is a fragment of the story. Bletcher’s work uses the visual language of modern magical realism to explore ideas around subjectivity, narrative, and materiality.
Mark Bletcher’s recent work is an exploration of the role of myth in shaping our identity. Inspired by a contemporary engagement with historical fragmented texts, including popular examples like the Iliad, the artist invites us to wonder what might be lost, obscured, or transformed by our limited understating of the past, and how these stories can be retold.
“If the dead are buried in rows, then I will draw their feet together so they can dance. And if a cavity has been left, then I will fill it with plaster. I’m not looking for ghosts or treasure, but I’m looking for my friends.Friends who remind me of myself and friends that surprise me. I’m looking for a fantasy, a myth, a legend, a history that binds me to this place.”
Solo Exhibitions
(2018) As Earnest as I can be, The Holy Biscuit, Newcastle
Group Exhibitions
(2023) Checkmate, Ohsh Projects, London
(2023) One & Another, Northen Print, Newcastle Upon Tyne
(2023) Home, Newbridge Studio, Newcastle Upon Tyne
(2023) Blue Like Ash or Smoke, Newcastle Arts Center, Newcastle Upon Tyne
(2022) Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Newcastle Contemporary Art, Newcastle Upon Tyne
(2022) Overlay, Owlstore, Harrogate
(2022) Three's A crowd, Gallager and Turner, Newcastle upon Tyne
(2022) Open Exhibition, Gallager and Turner, Newcastle Upon Tyne
(2021) Friends With Benefits, Safe House 1, London
(2020) This Feels Like an Omen, System Gallery, Newcastle
(2020) Futures 2020, Mall Galleries, London
(2020) Biscuit Factory Summer Open, The Biscuit Factory Gallery, Newcastle
(2020) The London Print Fair, The Royal Academy, London (Online)
(2020) Bankside Gallery Summer Show, Bankside Gallery, London
(2020) Printmakers in Lockdown, Bankside Gallery, London (Online)
(2019) SHOW, The Story Institute, Lancaster
(2019) NCL London Show, Copland Park, London
(2019) The Woon Foundation Prize, The Woon Gallery, Newcastle
(2019) Open Exhibition, Gallagher and Turner, Newcastle
(2019) Breeze Creative Group Show,, Breeze Gallery, Newcastle
(2019) Derby Print Open, Banks Mill Studios, Derby
(2019) Newcastle Degree Show, The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle
Competitions, Prizes & Awards
(2019) Shortlisted for The Woon Art and Sculpture Prize
(2019) Received the Final Year Achievement Prize for outstanding academic achievement at Newcastle University
(2019) Awarded The Royal Society for Painter-Printmaker Gwen May Recent Graduate Award.
(2020) Shortlisted for The Young Contemporary Artist Award
(2020) Shortlisted for Futures2020
(2023) Elizabeth Greenshields foundation Award