Self-portrait Painting

Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Mark Leysen has traveled over 10,000 miles throughout Western Europe and England. Leysen's art has been exhibited in California and Mexico in various group and one-person exhibitions, including; the UCLA Hammer Museum, the San Bernardino Museum, the Laguna Art Museum, Orange County Museum of Art, the Irvine Fine Arts Center, Chapman University, Museo de Arte in Queretaro, Mexico, California State University at Fullerton, UC Irvine, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art ARS Gallery, Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, the Long Beach Museum of Art, and the Fontana Art Depot. Leysen was also a past recipient of an artist-in-residence grant at the UCI Storefront Gallery in Irvine. He was First Place Winner in the 2017 Studio Islands Art Center Annual Exhibition. Mark Leysen has been represented by Art Soup LA for 7 years and Studio Gallery, Irvine, for over 20 years. Art writer, Dr. Roberta Carasso states, "Leysen's interaction of space, movement in a variety of directions, enhances the surface quality and creates the illusion of multiple planes. The already large image seems even more immense because our eyes continue moving upward and outward, following each shape beyond the space of the canvas." Mark Leysen is also an author, and has published four novels: "FLEMISH FRIES", "HOA**holes", "THE KLOWN," and "ONCE WE WERE MAGIC." All are available on-line.