It’s impossible to look at Mark Thomas’s art and not be reminded of 1930s American Regionalist paintings and WPA prints. The fact is Mark is entirely self-taught and was completely unaware that he had absorbed these influences. But like the regionalists, Thomas is interested in the “American character,” and says he turns to his own mixed race neighborhood in east Columbus to find it.
“To me the neighborhood has a magic to it that I see in kids playing, a couple dancing in a night club, or construction workers at a downtown construction site. There is something special about ordinary people doing ordinary things.”
PRESS:
Link to Columbus Dispatch article on MARK THOMAS.
Great feature article on MARK THOMAS by Melissa Starker.
Article in COLUMBUS ALIVE.
