Mark Kaiser
Mark Kaiser was born in 1971 to Polish parents and has been
painting and drawing from the age of three. He studied Design
and Illustration at Suffolk University and graduated in 1992
with a BA (Hons) 2:1. In the summer after graduation he was
contacted by EMI Records who were particularly interested in
an illustration he'd created out of burnt Chinese newspapers
and this was subsequently seen by the up-and-coming band Radiohead
who wanted to entitle their EP 'Chinese Burn'. The band loved
it and exhibited the finished illustration in their house.
In 1995 Mark was commissioned along with his twin brother, Paul
to produce a huge Renaissance-style painting on the altar wall
of the Polish Church in Kidderminster . After many months of
research, studying the work of the Great Masters in the National
Gallery and talking to scenery painters in the West End, the
painting was started. The whole experience gave them a taste
of what life was like for Michelangelo working up on the scaffolding
for hours on end. Two years later the project was complete and
the painting featured on Central News and was visited by an
Archbishop from The Vatican.
He lives in Warwickshire with his wife Ania, and paints from
a studio filled with travel books. From an early age Mark was
inspired by Eastern European and American folk art and was exposed
to Polish, Czech and Hungarian folk story-books containing imaginative
illustrations. He was also very infused by the creative, animated
world of Dr Seuss. Among his artistic inspirations are Sisley,
Grandma Moses, Monet, Klimt, Wallis and Gauguin. Ania is also
an inspiration and features in many paintings.
Since 2000 his work has been exhibited at the Artistic License
Gallery in Primrose Hill, London and he has exhibited at the
Affordable Art Fair in Battersea in the last three years. Both
exhibitions were near sell-outs and he received a commission
to illustrate The Wine Society's Autumn Wine List for October
02 - February 03. This was a great opportunity to show his work
to a wider audience and it lead to many private commissions.
Publishers of fine art prints have been in contact with Mark
and are looking to collaborate in the near future on producing
prints of his work.
His paintings are now in private collections in the U.K, the
United States, Germany and Poland . He says: "I paint from
memories of places that I have been to, of people that I've
met and atmospheres that have stuck in my mind. I'm interested
in architecture and also the human need to call a place 'home'.
I like to put in characters to make a painting more colourful,
even if it is someone on a blue tractor. The sheer fact that
they're driving a blue tractor makes them a character. Commissioned
paintings usually contain the particular collector(s) as characters
within the paintings. Each painting carries it's own atmosphere
through the colour, light, people, and background. There are
calming moods, carnival atmospheres or simply subdued moods.
I have this thing about perspective and sometimes we just don't
get on. So I create what feels right, not always what the laws
of perspective might say. I find watching holiday programmes
expands my imagination and I paint places I'd like to visit
one day."
"An important thing I've learned is to paint from the heart.
Learn from the Masters, but paint as yourself."
See Marks Prints
