Collection: Mark Grieves Artist Biography and Art Gallery Collection

Mark Grieves is a contemporary British artist born in North Shields, England in 1971, where as a child he was often chastised for being a dreamer in school. Since childhood, Grieves had ambitions to be an artist, but an altercation with an art teacher in school almost ended this dream. Though not expelled, the foolish incident hindered his chances of attending art school. Not one to be deterred from his dream, Mark Grieves instead took up photography, and spent many years perfecting this skill. Luckily, much of what he learned while being a photographer transfers to the world of fine art: Having an eye for photo is the same as imagining filling a blank canvas in composition terms. He is attracted to interesting shapes and shadows, light and contrast. He is inspired by dreams from childhood and a love of comic book art. As a fan of comic book artists, Mark Grieves created a painting style all his own that he has been able to showcase around Europe.

Mike Grieves works exclusively in oils.  He applies the paint directly onto the canvas without making preliminary sketches. Once he is happy with the layout of a painting, he will start building up layers of color. He paints the figures last, as he feels they ultimately bring his paintings to life. With bold, simple shapes and interesting characters, Mark Grieves creates captivating artwork. For Grieves, inspiration is everywhere, but his is mostly attracted to interesting shapes and the contrast between light and shadow.  As the artist puts it: "The beauty of creating images that normally would’ not exist in real life is what art means to me. Whenever I see photorealistic paintings it fills me with sadness’".

Mark Grieves personal method of working is different from the traditional approach. Normally artist would work from light to dark but he finds it natural to work in reverse from dark to light. Working exclusively in oils, he always starts with a completely black canvas and add highlights until he finds the balance in contrast. He works hard at composition and at the geometry emphasizing light and shadow. He also likes titles to give clues: there is always a strong sense of narrative. Every original painting is time consuming and can take several weeks to complete. Marks hugely successful ‘musical series’ was a complete sell-out with his former publishers and his originals and limited editions often sold within a few days of issue. Due to the painstaking attention to detail, original paintings are in short supply leading to a high demand.