Mark Walter and the Unfair

Hello. Welcome to my latest newsletter, It's been a busy time. 

The group show I was involved in at the start of the month, All the Fair of the Unfair, was a great success. We had a busy Private view and Exhibition and plenty of our works were sold. I have added a few pictures from the private view below. The paintings in the background of these pictures are top to bottom on mobile, or clockwise from top left on a big screen. A Mood Painting is not to be seen but to be felt, then there are two pictures of the triptych, Torment and the pain leaked through and the last picture is Banal Expectations 

My next show will be at the Backlit Gallery in Nottingham at the end of May. I will have more information about this exhibition in my next newsletter, please view my Events page for times and dates.

I recently wrote a piece about my friend and fellow artist Victoria Kiff for the Hastings Independent. Victoria is showing at the Rogue Gallery,  I really love Victoria's work, it is of a figurative bent and has a  classical yet modern quality and fantastic movement. The exhibition is on until May 7th and is a must-see. 
 

 There are some great exhibitions at the moment at the Hastings Comptempory, including Kosoff and Soutain  There are around 40 works from the two artists. The discovery of Soutine’s paintings in the early 1950s was apparently a significant moment for Kossoff, who was already finding his way towards the kind of direct and expressive use of paint he saw in his predecessor’s work. I plan to review this show in the coming months. Also at the contemporary is We Out Here  The exhibition represents six Black Artists of Caribbean heritage living in Hastings. The artists worked in different mediums, exploring different themes including migration, Black lives in coastal towns, relationships with the sea, climate justice and racial injustice, fast fashion and the Black presence in crafts. Another excellent show so a great reason to have a day by the sea. 

Hopefully, see you at my next exhibition at the end of May. 

Mark

Mark Walter and St Leonards

I have left Brighton and moved along the coast to St Leonards. It has been an unsettled three months but I hope to be moving into my own place soon. It is exciting as St Leonards and Hastings have so much to offer. The Hastings Contemporary has developed a genuine local flavour and are supporting local artists. I plan to join the Hastings Arts Forum too

 This is called "That which remains the same rises from the dark" and is 80 x 60 and digital media.

I have recently met Helen Murphy and Nick Pelling, keen participants in the Hastings art scene and great writers, they are writing a piece about me that should be published soon. I'm looking forward to getting settled and seeing more local shows.

I went to see Thunderbolt Disco, the show by Robert Nava, at the Pace Gallery. His paintings are large and very vibrant and he uses various media and the textures are rough and thick. He depicts everyday life including pictures of fish and cats. His work is selling for lots of money, so I'm off to paint a six-foot picture of my cat Jeff.

Looking forward to seeing you at an exhibition soon.

Mark Walter and the studio move

First my apologies for the delay in posting, a lot has happened since the end of Artists Open Houses in June.

I am really excited to have taken over the former studio of the wonderful Jane Andrews in Portslade. The new studio gives me much more space to work and I'll be able to produce larger work again with ease. If you would like to visit please call me to arrange a time. The closest station is Portslade and there are lots of buses that go along Kingsway, the studio is just a couple of stops away from Hove Lagoon.

I recently visited Chrissy McLaughlan in Coventry and she has been producing some amazing work over the summer, check out her Instagram to see some.

I was in Hastings on 17 October to see the Barbarian Horde play at the Jenny Lind.
While there I went to the Hastings Contemporary, They currently have two shows and the first is Project Art Works: Ignition-The Exhibition. Ignition began as a residency and is now being exhibited in the main gallery space. During the last national lockdown, artists worked in the temporary studio while the building was closed to the public.

The second show is called Seaside Modern: Art and life on the beach. This exhibition ends 31 October. Curator James Russell takes a fresh look at the popularity of the British seaside in the first half of the 20th century. The exhibition includes work by Paul Nash, LS Lowry, Eileen Agar and Laura Knight. 

Things are slow for me at the moment as I have broken my right arm. I'm still in the studio working though if you would like to arrange a studio visit in person, or an online tour.

Are you ready for more Brighton Art

I have been slowly getting back into things following the Artists Open Houses. Summer has arrived, even in a wet and windy way, and I have been seeking inspiration for my latest series of works on board.

If you managed to visit us during Artists Open Houses you may recognise 'The druggist was alone now' above left. The cracks are developing well as the painting dries and matures. This painting and 'Yellow as the bloom of a coward's heart' (right), are both now hung in the hallway with six other works from this series. All are oil paint and medium on canvas and 30 x 30 x 5 cm.
Below I am hanging 'Earthquakes are like messengers sent out to explore new land'.

Work is ongoing on the Walter Wolf Gallery, our new gallery project in Brighton. Please take a look at the website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The two local exhibitions I am looking forward to are Flankers presents: Charlatans at the Fishing Quarter Gallery in Brighton and the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition "Moon in Earthlight" at the Maureen Paley gallery in Hove.
There is a great interview in the Guardian with Tillmans.

Looking forward to seeing you at an exhibition soon. Please contact me if you would like to arrange a studio visit in person, or an online tour.

Mark Walter and the Artists Open House

Artists Open Houses Summer 2021 has finished and I'm really happy to have taken part and opened the house to visitors. I want to thank you for your support and your visits both online and in-person. This really has been a demonstration of the viewer being an essential part of the artistic process and it has been great to get back to talking to people about my work.

It was fantastic to be sharing the space with Chrissy McLauglan and Zoe Toolan, and to watch the maze which Zoe built during the month.

Now that the Open Houses is complete it is time to start planning some new events, please keep an eye on my Events page in the coming weeks. In the meantime please subscribe to the new YouTube channel set up for the Walter Wolf Gallery project.

I was in London recently to see The Loneliness of the Soul, the Tracey Emin and Edvard Much exhibition at the Royal Academy and managed to see Ecstatic Draught of Fishes, Ellen Gallagher at Hauser & Wirth which was really intriguing and well worth a visit.

After the recent small paintings, my next series of works are on board. I plan to have some pictures soon to post on Instagram.

If any of my work has caught your eye please let me know and we can arrange a studio visit in person or an online tour. I'm open to lending work out as well if you would like to test living with any piece.

Mark Walter Art and the 7 dials trail

Preparations continue for the Brighton Artists Open Houses and I'm pleased to announce that the house will be on the seven dials trail. We met with Abigail Bowen and Renee Graham-Adriani from 7 dials art on Saturday 1 May to learn from their experience with opening their homes over the years.

The Artists Open Houses website is now live and you can see all the other houses, and other places, taking part over the five weekends.
We are planning an online Private View on Wednesday 26 May at 6 pm (BST). Please follow this link to get a free ticket.
Keep an eye on the events page on my website for other events as we add them.

In the last post I introduced you to Chrissy McLaughlan and Zoe Toolan. As well as taking part in the Artists Open Houses here in Brighton, Zoe will also be running events at the Od Arts Festival on the late May Bank Holiday weekend. If you can't make it to Somerset the events will also be viewable online over the weekend.

We have launched a new website, Instagram account and mailing list for a new project, the Walter Wolf Gallery. Please sign up, view, follow etc and let us know what you think.

Looking forward to seeing you at Artists Open Houses. Please contact me if you would like to arrange a private studio visit or an online tour.

Mark Walter Art preparing for Artists Open Houses

Here in Brighton work is well underway to prepare for the Artists Open Houses starting on 29 May. Artists Open Houses is running over five weekends from the last weekend in May until the last weekend in June. As well as opening the house to visitors each weekend there will be online events and the house will be open by appointment during the week.
There will be three artists showing in the house, Zoe Toolan and Chrissy McLaughlan will be exhibiting with me at the house and joining in with online events and in person.
I will be updating my Events page with booking and visiting details.

Chrissy McLaughlan is a long-time friend and we first exhibited together in 'The Space in Between', a joint show at Watford Museum. Since then Chrissy has completed a masters degree in Fine Art at Coventry University and has been establishing herself in her new base in Coventry. I have included a few photos below from the Watford private view to remind you of how much fun exhibitions are.

Zoe Toolan is an exciting contemporary artist, arts educator and arts promoter who I first met at the Art Academy in London. If you have seen Zoe's work before you will be ready for the energy that she brings to any event, if you are new to her work I hope that you are ready for something new and thought-provoking.

Hoping to see as many of you as possible at Artists Open Houses in Brighton, either in person or via online tours. Please remember to add my email address to your address book, and forward to anyone who may be interested.

Newsletter

The big news is that I have started a newsletter.

Even though you probably already follow me on social media I want to create a newsletter as an opportunity for me to highlight the key things that I want to share with family, friends and supporters.
I am planning to send a newsletter every few weeks, please let me know if you would like to start receiving the newsletter.

As things open up and exhibitions restart I would like to have as many opportunities as possible to share with you any news of upcoming exhibitions and online tours.