MARK PERRY (b. 1959)
Artist Statement
Nothing is a waste of time is a helpful mantra regarding making artwork. My inspiration comes from nature, Art History and Contemporary Art. Studio chores can segue into painting. The task of documentation, photographing and seeing the work edited, potentially opens possibilities or directions.
In my work on paper practice using charcoal and graphite I am currently making representational studies of nature. This frees up my oil on canvas practice which is pure abstract painting. One vision more controlled and searching the other raw feeling and movement.
With the recent passing of my mother work has been a big part of the healing process. She was always an admirer of my more representational work so it is a tribute to her that I am doing this work today. As different as they are there is nothing as thrilling as seeing something come to life on the paper or seeing pure color freely interacting on the canvas. MP 9/23/25
BIO
Born in 1959, Mark Perry was raised in Providence, RI. He started drawing before he was ten and painting in his early twenties. As a young boy drawing was a confidence builder, seeing improvement with continued work. Although self-taught, Perry attended Evening Division, Portraiture and Life Drawing at Rhode Island School of Design. In addition, studying and drawing sculpture and paintings at the RISD museum. During the decade of his twenties he worked as an Electrical Draftsman for an Architectural Firm in Providence.
In 1989, at the age of twenty-nine he moved to NYC. Through the 1990’s drawing at The Spring St. Studio and The Society of Illustrator’s while working as a studio painter in the Garment District for six years. In 1996 he left this field to be a full time artist.
Perry divides his time between Springs, NY. where he makes large oil on canvas works and Miami Beach, Fl. where he makes smaller acrylic works on paper. In 2022 he had his first museum show at The Coral Gables Museum.
VIRTUAL REPS
Cade Tompkins Projects, Providence, RI https://www.cadetompkinsprojects.com/artists/84-mark-perry/works/
Coco Myers, East Hampton, NY https://www.folioeast.com/artists/mark-perry
COLLECTIONS
NYU Langone, Art Program and Collection
Memorial Sloan Kettering, In association with Cade Tompkins Projects, https://www.mskcc.org/msk-nassau-art-walk/concourse-floor-art-walk
HSS Hospital for Special Surgery In association with Cade Tompkins Projects, Providence, RI
SOLO SHOWS
2022 Points East - Montuak / Miami - Paintings of Mark Perry at The Coral Gables Museum https://coralgablesmuseumarchive.org/portfolio-item/points-east/
2019 Mark Perry at the Pierre, NYC Cade Tompkins Projects
2017 The Nature of - Paintings of Mark Perry - Quogue Library, Quogue, NY
2017 Real Abstract - Mark Perry at The Gallery at Lillian August, CT.
2015 Summertime - Paintings of Mark Perry, Ille Arts, Amagansett, NY
2015 For The Roses, Paintings of Mark Perry at Elizabeth Dow Home, EH, NY
2009 Landscapes of Mark Perry at New Century Gallery, NYC
2008 Interlude, Paintings of Mark Perry at Surface Library Gallery, EH, NY
PRESS & LINKS
2017 SOCIAL LIFE, June, Open link click to pages 132 - 134 https://issuu.com/sociallifemagazine/docs/social_life_magazine_june_16_2017/39
2017 https://www.turningart.com/artist/mark-perry
2016 lipulse http://www.lipulse.com/2016/07/07/mark-perry/
2009 https://www.27east.com/arts/mark-perry-sees-landscapes-from-another-angle-1376125/
GROUP SHOWS
2021 The Tile Club Exhibition, Guild Hall, EH, NY
2021 Group Show - Nine Artists, Curated by Mark Perry at Ashawagh Hall, EH, NY
2018 In The Cloud, Curated by Scott Bluedorn at Neoteric, Bridgehampton, NY
2018 The Small Abstract Show, FolioEast, EH, NY
2018 Old & New, Curated by Mark Perry, Ashawagh Hall, EH, NY
2018 Annual Member’s Show, Guild Hall, EH, NY
2017 50th Annual Springs Invitational, Ashawagh Hall, EH, NY
2017 Alt Egos, Curated by Scott Bluedorn, for CRUSH Curatorial, Amagansett, NY
2017 Forces of Nature, Ashawagh Hall, EH, NY
2017 79th Annual Member’s Show, Guild Hall, EH, NY
2016 Zinefest, Ille Arts, Amagansett, NY
2016 Lawrence Fine Art, EH, NY
2015 Zoya Tommy Gallery, Houston, TX
2015 Zinefest, Ille Arts, Amagansett, NY
2013 Ille Arts, Amagansett, NY
2013 SUMMER BREEZE - Paintings of Mark Perry, Zoya Tommy Gallery, Houston, TX
2013 Neoteric Fine Art Gallery, Amagansett, NY
2012 Ille Arts, Amagansett, NY
2012 I Digress, Suirface Library Gallery, EH, NY
2010 Curated by James Kennedy, Ashawagh Hall, EH, NY
2010 Wide Open Show, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists
2009 Dialog 1, Sydney Butchkes + Mark Perry at Surface Library Gallery, EH, NY
2008 LTV Station, Curated by James Kennedy, EH, NY
OF INTEREST
2025 Serving With Pride, Event on 6/21/25 at Longhouse Reserve, East Hampton, NY. Benefiting Long Island, Gay Pride Agenda.
2023 INK Miami, represented by Cade Tompkins Projects https://www.cadetompkinsprojects.com/art-fairs/22/overview/
2020 Hamptons Artists, The Current Wave, included with 40 Artists. Photogrpahs by Jaime Lopex, Text by Coco Myers https://www.folioeast.com/exhibits/thecurrentwave