Three Ways Forward is an exhibition of paintings that embraces the footsteps we are all about to take – for Derek it is an affirmation of positive projection, movement and interaction. Over the years the artist has often depicted two, sometimes several figures in the same painting, but three being an odd number reflects his thoughts on unlikely and challenging relationships which speak of attachment and confront conventional expectations. On 13 June Derek will be holding a meet the artist evnt from 12 till 4pm in the gallery.
The seaside, Andalusia and painting
Many of Derek’s paintings dating back to his college years and continuing to this day, reference water, swimming pools and sea. Sometimes specifically so, while at other times such potential subject matter remains a presence or a backdrop (one may simply see a person in swimwear with no reference to water). As a child, the Marks family would often go to the ‘seaside’ along the Thames estuary north-east of Whitstable, to Leigh-on-Sea, Chalkwell, Westcliff and Southend. Places he still visits today. In more recent years, with friends living in Whitstable he has discovered this coastal town’s charm and character. However, it is a very different landscape that has been the source of the artist’s inspiration since 2019. Having made regularly trips with his wife, Anne, to Andalusia, in the south of Spain, it was here they discovered an unspoilt pueblo called Torrox, close to the coast and not too far from Malaga. Since that time countless observation watercolours of this mountainous region and the sea and its beaches have been made and form the foundation of many of the artist’s larger canvases. Rarely, however, are such scenes, when it comes to his oil paintings separated from the portrayal of figures and their relationships to each other. The psychological connectedness each figure has to the other, and to their surroundings is deeply felt and expressed. Having lived in Torrox for nearly six months Derek and Anne reluctantly left earlier than expected due to the advent and spread of Covid in 2020. Other paintings that make no reference to the sea or landscape and depict interiors reflect more on the artist’s life in London and sociable lifestyle. Such paintings revel in the interaction between people and the act of communication. Other paintings depict characters that seem to confront the viewer unabashed with their private world being looked in on.
Derek Marks was born in east London in 1960. Derek works from his home in a loft-converted studio close to where he was born. Between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one, while studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths College of Art, Derek’s paintings were selected three years in a row to represent his college at the Royal Academy’s Stowells Annual Award; an achievement that remains unprecedented to this day. His personal tutors were John Bellany and Michael Craig-Martin. After completing his college education in the early 1980s, he exhibited alongside notable emerging artists of his generation at distinguished venues, like the ICA, Whitechapel Art Gallery, and Riverside Studios in London. Though his paintings and drawings have been showcased in many solo and group exhibitions primarily in London, Bicha Gallery (no longer operating) exhibited his paintings and drawings in international art fairs across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Exhibitor Information
