Mark Garry is a distinguished artist based in Laguna Beach, California, whose work reflects a profound engagement with nature, color, and the interplay of light. Born in the coastal town, Garry's early fascination with the ocean and its vibrant ecosystem profoundly influenced his artistic vision. His work seamlessly blends traditional painting techniques with modern sensibilities, resulting in pieces that are both timeless and contemporary. Over the years, Garry has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both locally and nationally. His work has been celebrated for its interest in the organic world and developing inventive mediums.
As a child, Garry was fascinated by the complexity of patterns found in both nature (leaves, snow, mud puddles) and popular culture (stamps, album covers, static on a TV screen). His current series of carbonate paintings are both a meditation on and manipulation of the natural materials used: water, clay, marble dust, and paint. Garry’s carbonate paintings are sensitive explorations of the material, visual, and physicality of his media in dialogue with their surroundings. The artist uses modernist strategies of fragmentation, re-composition, and repetition to create works that evoke patterns created by tides, wind, rain, and sun.
To look upon a carbonate painting is to become absorbed in the revelatory nature of contrasts: Garry imposes a certain order on the paint and canvas using rollers, brushes, stretching techniques, and his own hands, but the materials refuse to be entirely bound by human notions of order. Paint dries, the canvas shrinks, and at each step of this transformation the artist works to create a certain harmony borne of human intention and respect for the nature of the materials used. Each carbonate painting evokes a moment of powerful stillness in a world in flux with its surroundings.