Artists

Biography

Mark Soltero is an artist living and working in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. In essence my paintings are history paintings that examine relationships between image, memory and materiality. Many of the images border on dissolution, fragmenting or breaking down in contrast to the seemingly smooth images that saturate our lived experience. Rather than making works in which the image might be shocking, I make works that draw audiences in, yet are challenging to look at. To a certain extent, the work explores our experience of Derrida’s concept of différence, in time. Mark holds an MFA – Dunedin School of Art, a B.Design – Ara Institute of Canterbury and a PGDipTchg, Art & Art History – NZGSE. Mark is a member of Art Associates Aotearoa collective. He was awarded the inaugural Head of School Award for Excellence in Post-Graduate Drawing from the Dunedin School of Art in 2014. He has been a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards three times, twice a finalist in the Adam Portraiture Award. Mark has exhibited at the Centre of Contemporary Art (2009, 2018-2019), ArtsPost Waikato Museum (2011), Chambers Art Gallery (2019, 2021, 2023) and Ashburton Art Gallery (2021). Mark is represented by Chambers Art Gallery, Artfull Online, and McAtamney Gallery.