Oliver Mark
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Mark in Venice
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| Born | 1963 (age 60–61) |
| Known for | Photography |
Oliver Mark (born 1963)[1] is a German photographer and artist known primarily for his portraits of international celebrities.
In the 1990s, Mark began photographing celebrities. He made portraits of public figures including actors. His personal interest lies in contemporary artists and their creative world.[2]
He works with both a single-lens reflex camera and an old, 680 Polaroid. The instant photos produced by the Polaroid reveal Mark's familiarity and closeness to the subjects he portrays.[3]
Mark's exhibition Natura Morta, which was presented in two parts at the Paintings Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Natural History Museum Vienna in 2017, addresses how humans deal with nature and the environment, in particular the animal world, but also the aesthetics and beauty death. Mark's still life photographs were taken in the Asservat Chamber of the Federal Office for Nature Conservation in Bonn in 2015.[4] His idea was to photograph items seized by customs, such as leopard skulls, ivory carvings, crocodile and turtle products, protected animal and plant parts, etc. He photographed these using specific backgrounds and a method of lighting (Old Master-like daylight, lit only through a crack) to generate in the viewer a desire to observe. In the Vienna Natural History Museum, these items are sorted into three categories and exhibited in context with different animal specimens, to address the topic of species protection. The photographs were presented in historical picture frames. This created a dialog in the Paintings Gallery of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts between the different genres of painting and photography as well as the painted or photographed still lifes.
Mark is the father of two sons and lives in Berlin.[5]
Mark's work is held in the following permanent collections
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