Mark Cross
Bio
Mark Cross is considered one of the South Pacific's leading contemporary realist painters. Dividing his time between studios in Auckland and the central Polynesian island of Niue. Mark Cross's works are sought after by collectors worldwide.
His paintings come from a place of water-bound isolation as he stages atmospheric compositions drawn from elements of the New Zealand and Pacific environment and more recently other parts of the world. Employing landscapes often with people in them, Mark Cross's works are well known for imparting a social message that speaks of mankind's delinquent abuse of his home the Earth. In their ethereal, visionary way, the works warn of the dire ecological imperatives that face both a small island and a planet.
His paintings come from a place of water-bound isolation as he stages atmospheric compositions drawn from elements of the New Zealand and Pacific environment and more recently other parts of the world. Employing landscapes often with people in them, Mark Cross's works are well known for imparting a social message that speaks of mankind's delinquent abuse of his home the Earth. In their ethereal, visionary way, the works warn of the dire ecological imperatives that face both a small island and a planet.
CV
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012- "Works in Transit". Pierre Peeters Gallery, Auckland
- Sheep Country. Real Gallery Auckland
- Heta: Power and Fragility. Photographs SOCA gallery Auckland
- Heta: Power and Fragility. Photographs Whangarei Art Museum
- Wide Island. Paintings of Central Otago. Milford Gallery, Dunedin
- “Have We Offended” Te Manawa, Museum and Art Gallery
- Cook islands National Museum, Cook Is
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010- Connect Gallery, Wil, Switzerland
- Minima Gallery, Mykonos, Greece
- Invitation Lightbox Exhibition: (Foreshore Archive) SOCA Gallery
- Invitational Screen Exhibition: (Six Days and the Pacific) SOCA
- "Exiles in Paradise", With Mahiriki Tangaroa, Beachcomber Gallery, Rarotonga
- Tulana Mahu Installation, Cook Island National Museum
AWARDS, RESIDENCY AND COMMISSION
2014- Highly Commended in the Adam Portrait Prize, NZ Portrait Gallery
- Winner of the Auckland section of the traveling "Coexistence" exhibition originated in Jerusalem
- Merit Award, Birkenhead Trust Art Award
- Winner of the Central King Country Visual Arts Trust Award
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Public- Waitakere Licencing Trust Auckland
- Auckland University
- Gallery on the Seam, Jerusulem
- Fletcher Challenge
- Glaxo, NZ
- Skellerup Group, NZ
- Reef Group, NZ
- Various collections in; NZ, Australia,USA, Panama, Canada, Japan, Britian, Switzerland, India, Lebanon