ARTWEEK

Emerging artist Jade van der Mark creates poignant portraits of contemporary society. Now based in London, van der Mark is using the city as a source of inspiration, sketching in the heart of the capital, documenting tube commutes and street life. Her large-scale portraits of city life, previously inspired by Amsterdam, now turn to London’s vibrant and diverse community.

Thick coats of oil paint give life to monumental textured canvases, rich in detail and complexity and majestic in size. The use of bold and abstracted colour palettes conveys a sense of sculptural depth, amplifying their gravitas. As each layer may take up to a week to dry, van der Mark’s paintings are the result of a laboured process lasting up to eight months. Containing multiple stories, which over the course of completion have been altered or painted over, her works unveil hidden narratives that encourage deeper reflection.

Set in decontextualized city spaces, van der Mark’s paintings speak to an overwhelming sense of disconnect that resonates globally. Jaded faces look past each other in crowded scenes, often directly confronting the viewer with glazed yet personalised and inquisitive expressions. Diving into diverse identities, van der Mark reveals a vast network of personal stories that share the same spaces but lack connection. Colourful figures are representative of the artist’s belief in a shared humanity. Playful but profound, her works make the mundane vibrant and beautiful, with an edge of melancholia.

One of her latest works, We’re All Human, presents a densely populated crowd sprawling across a wide canvas, measuring over four meters in length and almost three in height. What seem like hundreds of city dwellers, distinguished through lively clothing and colourful faces, move across all directions. With almost no negative spaces between them, individuals remain fully engrossed in their own worlds, often shielded by phones, headphones and even pollution masks. A compelling sense of dynamism and unity is constantly undercut by the divisive compactness of the mass.

Artist ( Name ):Jade van der Mark
Telephone:
+ 44 207 6378403
Web:
https://www.piartworks.com/
Venue ( Name ):Pi Artworks London
Venue ( Address ):
55 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8EG

Original link of the article: https://www.artweek.com/events/united-kingdom/art-exhibition/london/jade-van-der-mark-solo-exhibition-were-all-human