Mark
Ward.
Painting is Mark Ward’s way of dreaming himself elsewhere. In his Suffolk studio he creates dramas of tropical lands that take place on home-made stages, representing the places he has been or even journeys he has yet to travel. All the life of the forest, swamp and savannah is played out by creatures made of paper, plastic and string, as consciously posed and lit as any actor. These are worlds created thousands of miles from the jungle, but a million miles away from the wild!
Bringing the wild back home has long been a central tenet of my work. Like many children I had an element of Gerald Durrell, searching for newts, tadpoles and old nests, and forever drawing birds.