Mark Cross

Mark Cross

Riverhead, Auckland, New Zealand

About Mark Cross

New Zealand born Mark Cross moved at the age of 23 to his wife’s home on the Polynesian island of Niue and it was during these early years that a strong philosophic and stylistic foundation was established for his career as an artist. Due to this continued isolation, Cross has worked on the 'periphery', of the traditional art industry. Cross has developed a reputation as one of the South Pacific’s leading contemporary realist painters and now divides his time between studios in Niue and New Zealand while travelling and exhibiting elsewhere. His paintings over time have emerged from being informed by the extended immersion in an isolated, water-bound, natural environment into a universal vision that questions the foibles of Mankind. Elements of the New Zealand and Niue environment became the atmospheric stages for these allegorical communications although more recently he has employed similarly unique landscapes from around the world. In their ethereal, visionary way, the works warn of the dire ecological imperatives that face both a small island and a planet. Mark Cross has achieved through his work a uniqueness that avoids the trappings of provincialism, so often associated with realism, and replaces it with an acutely perceptive worldview. Rarely exhibiting in dealer galleries, the artist's work often sell straight from the easel. Artist Statement: Although all my paintings are obviously based on specific places, those places are secondary to the motivations to depict them. I use landscape elements in all my paintings not to depict that place but as an avenue for other ideas. Clues to these ideas are usually in the titles. When traveling for any reason I am always on the lookout for landscape elements that I might be able to use. Water is such an important element and at risk of pollution, over exploitation, acidification etc so that has been a central element in recent years while I am always trying to find different ways of using it to express my ideas. So, in short, the location of the landscape used isn't really of interest to me but is a means of illustrating a universal idea.

Education:

Self Educated:

Events:

1994 "Real Vision" Robert McDougal Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand1999 Asia Pacific Trienielle (Tulana Mahu installation) Queensland, Australia2000 Olympic Arts Festival, (Tulana Mahi installation) Sydney Australia2002, "Have we Offended"(a retrospective) Te Manawa Museum and Art Gallery, Palmerston North, New Zealand2005, Coexistence travelling exhibition (ongoing), Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem,

Exhibitions:

Solo Exhibitions

No Longer exhibiting.

2015 "Liquid Landscapes" Pierre Peeters Gallery, Auckland
2012 "Works in Transit". Pierre Peeters Gallery, Auckland
2005 "Sheep Country". Real Gallery Auckland
2004 Heta: Power and Fragility. Photographs SOCA gallery Auckland
Heta: Power and Fragility. Photographs Whangarei Art Museum
Wide Island. Paintings of Central Otago. Milford Gallery, Dunedin
2003 Recent Works: John Leech Gallery Auckland
2002 “Have We Offended” Te Manawa, Museum and Art Gallery
2002 Cook islands National Museum, Cook Is
1998- Haleiwa Gallery, Hawaii
1997 Woodcuts, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
1996 Premier Gallery, Hawaii
1995 “Life Stills” John Leech Gallery, Auckland
1994 Canterbury Society of Arts, Christchurch
XPO Exhibitions/John Leech Gallery, Auckland
1993 “Anomalies”, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
1991 John Leech Gallery, Auckland
1989 Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland
North Gallery, Whangarei
Baycourt Cultural Centre, Tauranga
1988 Canterbury Society of Arts, Christchurch
Huanaki Cultural Centre, Niue
1987 QEII Arts Council Funded touring exhibition
NSA Whangarei
ASA Auckland
WSA Hamilton
1985 Molesworth Gallery Wellington


Group Exhibitions

2010- Connect Gallery, Wil, Switzerland
2010 - Minima Gallery, Mykonos, Greece
2005 Invitation Lightbox Exhibition: (Foreshore Archive) SOCA Gallery Auckland
"Pacific Light" Photographic Exhibition, Pataka Museum, Porirua
Invitational Screen Exhibition: (Six Days and the Pacific) SOCA
2003 "Exiles in Paradise", With Mahiriki Tangaroa, Beachcomber Gallery, Rarotonga
2002 Tulana Mahu Installation, Cook Island National Museum
2001 Tulana Mahu Installation, Manawatu Museum and Art Gallery, NZ
2000 Tulana Mahu Installation,Sydney Olympic Arts Festival, Australia
1999-2000 Tulana Mahu Installation, Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery, Australia
1996 "Nukututaha: Art From Niue; The Lane Gallery Auckland
1996 "Landscapes" Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1995 Drawings; Joint exhibition with John Pule, The Lane Gallery, Auckland
1993-1994 "Real Vision"; Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Chrischurch
1993 "Portray Portrait"; Morgan le Fay Gallery, Auckland
1992 Joint exhibition/book launch; Blue Angle Gallery Auckland
1990 "NZ Realists" Charlotte H Galleries, Auckland
1989 NZ Artists; Mezzanine Gallery, Brisbane
1986 Denis Cohn Gallery, Auckland
ASA Gallery, Auckland
1984 Molesworth Gallery, Wellington


Awards and Grants

2014 Highly Commended in the Adam Portrait Prize, NZ Portrait Gallery
2006 Winner of the Auckland section of the traveling "Coexistence" exhibition originated in Jerusalem
1991 Merit Award, Birkenhead Trust Art Award
1990 Winner of the Central King Country Visual Arts Trust Award
1989 Winner of the Waitakere Licensing Trust Art Award
1987 QEII Arts Council, New Artist Promotion Scheme
Winner of the Bledisloe Medal for Landscape
1985 Finalist, Team MacMillan Ford Art Award
1984 Finalist, Team MacMillan Ford Art Award
1983 Winner of the Polynesian Airlines Short Story Award