Making a statement about painting is always very dangerous. There are always more questions than satisfactory answers. Everything is in a state of flux and continuously changing.
Looking has always been important; everything looks so beautiful. I am constantly trying to understand how ‘things’ look and how perceived appearances can be drawn and painted and built on a flat surface. Things painted are generally chosen by circumstance. Drawing is all, finding a scale for each form, surface, colour and shape within the picture. Colour may be used in different ways; it might be copied or adjusted to work. Certain aspects are unpaintable; the clues are so slight or intangible. Painting is very difficult and exciting.
Mark Dunford studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London 1982-1987. His painting awards include The Robert Ross Scholarship, Slade, UCL, The Richard Ford Award, Royal Academy of Arts to study in Madrid and the Winsor & Newton Young Artists’ Award.
Mark has been a member of The London Group since 2001. He has exhibited his work regularly at venues within the UK and Europe, including Dulwich Picture Gallery, The Mall Galleries, Barbican and Whitechapel Art Galleries, Leighton House, Felix & Spear, London, Royal Museum, Canterbury, Southampton City Art Gallery, Millennium, St Ives, Penlee House, Cornwall, the Pulchri Studio, The Hague and the Mirror Gallery, Vicenza, Italy.
Since 2016, he has exhibited continuously at the Tregony Gallery, Cornwall.