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Dark Memories: Artist paints bleak but appealing city and landscapes from memory

When one considers the seemingly sombre paintings of British artist Mark Thompson, one might assume that he is offering a bleak, apocalyptic future where nothing but a nuclear winter prevails and no sign of human life, or anything for that matter, seems to exist. However, you'd be wrong. Mark's primary drive as an artist is to try and make sense of his place in the world through the caprices and inconsistencies of memory.

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Snow-covered urban street lined with bare trees and deteriorating buildings in a desaturated blue-grey palette by Mark Thompson

He explains: "I do not seek to illustrate a particular place in point of fact, but rather develop and ultimately ‘make‘ a version of the world seen through the isolation of personal memories. The mind/body distinction – the phenomena of the mind seeming to look out at the world from behind the eyes – forms the basis of my attempt to understand and record the world through my own consciousness.

"The paintings in particular are works of memory – the slow development or exposure of a photograph being both a useful metaphor and an actuality in my practice. The filter of memory appears to retain only what is personally important, and the inevitable mix of my own history and experience fills in the gaps. Only that which remains is important – the extraneous and fleeting are not registered. The final image is therefore a remnant, the world distilled. This remembered world inevitably fades and decays, and I catch all I can before there is nothing left. This is my starting point."

To discover more about Mark, who's based in Peterborough and also loves photography as well as his painting, visit markthompson-artist.com. Or check out his profile on Art Finder.

Dilapidated neoclassical building with large arched windows engulfed in smoke and flames, surrounded by snow-covered ground and damaged structures in a desolate urban landscape
Mark Thompson's painting of snow-covered railway tracks stretching between industrial buildings under a dramatic stormy sky
Snow-covered ornate building with domed roof rendered in muted greys and whites under a hazy, atmospheric sky in Mark Thompson's painterly style
A snow-covered urban street lined with tall buildings under a grey, overcast sky in Mark Thompson's atmospheric painting
Snowy urban street lined with grand Haussmann-style buildings under dramatic grey skies, rendered in muted tones by Mark Thompson
Desolate urban street lined with weathered buildings beneath heavy, brooding clouds, rendered in muted greys and whites by Mark Thompson
Desolate landscape with a weathered wooden shed, bare trees and logs scattered across pale ground beneath dark cliffs, painted in muted greys and blacks
A desolate snowy landscape with a weathered wooden cabin beside a frozen stream, shadowed forested hills looming behind in muted tones of grey and black
Mark Thompson's memory-based painting of an industrial landscape with derelict buildings, bare trees and weathered fencing rendered in muted greys and whites
Monochromatic painting of an isolated wooden house surrounded by bare trees in a snow-covered landscape, rendered in muted greys and whites with expressive brushwork
Wintry riverside landscape with dark water snaking through white snow and ice, bare trees lining the banks beneath a brooding grey sky and distant hills
Snow-covered valley lined with dark evergreen trees beneath a misty mountain peak in Mark Thompson's moody landscape painting
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