MARK WHALEN
AustraliaLike archaeology in reverse, Mark Whalen's work excavates the future, searching for what is to come. Inextricably embedded in their geometrically structured environments, Whalen's humanoid characters and anthropomorphic machines are like puppets or dolls - compelled to enact roles prescribed by powers beyond their control.
However, in these meticulously crafted art objects - worked on paper in ink, acrylics, and water colours with resin, and mounted on wooden panels or handmade boxes - one senses the presence of the indomitable spirits of creativity, humour and resistance, and the power of adaptation.
The work of Mark Whalen fractures and realigns the old divides between street and studio, form and content, macro and micro views to reinterpret the universal human struggle between our antagonistic instincts for freedom and control for the contemporary era. For his rapidly expanding audience around the world, the work points towards the dynamic new understandings that will be necessary for future survival.
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