
MARK COLYER
https://colyercollage.editorx.io/markcolyer
Born 1990, Poughkeepsie, NY
Lives and works in Hudson, NY
EDUCATION
2017
BFA in Sculpture, Purchase College, Purchase, NY
2016
Mt. Gretna School of Art, Mt. Gretna, PA
2014
Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, NY
2009
College of Architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
EXHIBITIONS
2020
Art is Art, group show, Tanja Grunert Salon, Hudson, NY
2019
Drawn Down, group show, Joyce Goldstein Gallery, Chatham, NY
Colyer and Nouri, group show, The Hudson Underground Gallery, Hudson, NY
Limbic Songs, group show, Real Eyes Gallery, Adams, MA
2018
The Big Holiday Show, LABSpace, Hillsdale, NY
2017
Senior Thesis BFA Show, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY
2016
A Long the Riverrun, group show, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY
Annual Student Art Show, Mt. Gretna School of Art, Mt. Gretna, PA
2015
Heterotopias, group show, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY
A Cross-Section of Work by Jr. and Sr. Sculpture Majors, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY
2014
2014 Student Show, PhotoCenter, Troy, NY
Juried Student Art Exhibit, SUNY Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, NY
2013
Juried Student Art Exhibit, SUNY Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, NY
“Sifting through magazines, exhibition catalogues, history books and atlases, I collect images of the human body, architecture, landscapes and textures that I imagine would create dynamic compositions. From this catalogue of imagery I choose two or three cut-outs which stand out to me in the moment and begin fitting them together.
It’s important to me that the images are what they are. The scale is set. I never scan and digitally manipulate them.
I am always trying to get to a place where the piece tells me what it wants next. I never start with a composition in mind. I never set out to illustrate an idea.
Each cut-out is glued to chipboard and the composition is constructed with the precision and deliberation of an architectural model. No edge is neglected, no vertices unconsidered. The balancing point of the final piece is found and then affixed to cardboard cleats, which are then painted and hung on a single finishing nail.
The current series is the result of nearly four years of distillation: from 3-dimensional collages constructed in undergrad using dozens of cut-outs to more refined collage reliefs consisting of three to ten pieces. It is an on-going, ever evolving process as I continue to develop a visual vocabulary.
Ultimately my work is concerned with: automatism, balance, deliberateness of line and composition, economy of means, gravity, history, intuition, materiality, mysticism, and myth.”