ABOUT THIS SELF-TAUGHT ARTIST.

Reach out to Mark: studio@markdpowers.com

Mark is a San Francisco based painter who uses painting as documentation and storytelling. With a well practiced artist’s eye, Mark spends a lot of time capturing situations (mostly in California), curating the most paint-worthy moments into references for future series, and ultimately translating those moments with tremendous care and attention.

If he’s not painting, he’s drawing. If he’s not drawing, he’s probably thinking about painting, or light, or shadows…

If you really, really want more background, please keep reading.

HIS-STORY IN THE MAKING (he’s been doing this since, well, forever):

Mark has been involved in the visual arts field for more than thirty years as an artist, curator, art installer and community arts organizer. His passion for art began early…

Trained as a sign painter at 16, Mark’s wanderlust took him into the military at 17 years of age. For the next 11 years he worked hard, advanced to a commissioned officer, and was fortunate enough to travel the globe: South America, Africa, Australia, Japan, Europe, and more, representing the United States interests in areas of international navigation. To help manage the effects of such a robust schedule Mark continued drawing daily, keeping several diaries and sketchpads always at the ready.

While not traveling, in 1991, Mark showed (and sold) his first work publicly at a Washington DC gallery. The military took him to a new city: Detroit.

Throughout the 1990s, in Detroit, Mark was a member of Artist’s Cooperative, The, (ACT), a decade’s old non-profit artist group that operated a gallery space and held numerous local exhibits, including the annual International Detroit Salon Show. Mark had numerous solo and group shows during this period and served as President for a time. He also Co-Founded DEGA (Detroit Gallery Alliance) and helped establish the DAC (Detroit Art Corridor) - both of which organized gallery crawls, Art At Lunch events, produced Gallery Guides, and more. Mark was also privileged to serve as a jurist for the Detroit Art Council Annual Artist Grant Program.

Mark’s creativity was noticed by those in need of marketing skills, and for several years, Mark had fun creating new products, building large master-planned communities, and learning how to build brands for great organizations. During this time, Mark also sat down each morning and started to draw. The rest of the world got what was left. The art has always been the start.

In late 2018, after successful careers in marketing, homebuilding, and adult entertainment production, Mark began making art full-time from his home in San Francisco’s South of Market warehouse district.

Since 2021, Mark has produced numerous new series of work from his light-filled studio in San Francisco’s Design District, most of which are sold through James Bacchi Contemporary, local galleries, or regional art consultants.

Mark welcomes discussions about residencies, exhibit opportunities, and other representation.

Did you see Mark’s art online somewhere and want to know more about it? Reach out to Mark: studio@markdpowers.com