Mark Forth
My paintings enter a realm of stillness and shadow, where antique furnishings, austere architecture and eerie lighting become interpreters for mute figures that stand, crouch, or recline impassively. Like sleep walkers, these single or paired characters perform their quotidian rituals: boiling or pouring water, turning on lights, reading, working with tools, and especially looking. No reveries illuminate the glances of the oddly rendered people-their solitude remains inviolate. Nor is there a promise of a clarifying vision in the dark landscape beyond the windows and doors of their chambers. The only possible clues as to the mysteries locked within these sparsely furnished rooms lie in the meticulously articulated and curiously situated household objects: teacups lined up on a bedpost, tinted glass bottles on shelves and bureaus, a cluster of antique alarm clocks on a windowsill, a painted porcelain lamp lying on the floor. -Mark Forth
Mark Forth’s contemporary scenes of softly illuminated figures captured during moments of private reflection provide a glimpse into the human experience, often with a twist of the surreal. Forth received his BA from Illinois State University, Normal, IL where he studied under master landscape artist, Harold Gregor.
Selected Collections: Illinois State University, Normal, IL (Commission-a permanent installation of eleven paintings); Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL (Collection of Francis and June Speizer); State of Illinois Museum of Art, Springfield, IL; University Galleries, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
