On April 11, 2024, Fine Art Shippers had the pleasure of attending the opening event of the new solo art show by the renowned artist Mark Tennant. The exhibition titled “Memento Mori” opened at Georges Bergès Gallery, at 462 West Broadway in NYC. Mark Tennant is an established artist whose works have been exhibited at some of the most reputable museums and galleries in the world. He is also our long-time client and friend. Keep reading to learn more about Mark Tennant and his new solo exhibition in New York.
Fine Art Shippers Visited the Solo Art Show by Mark Tennant in New York
Mark Tennant’s artistic background is quite unusual. For years, he taught art workshops and museum copying at the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Along with that, Tennant’s works were exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris, the legendary exhibition that started at the beginning of the 20th century as a way to highlight Impressionist artists who inspired the artist himself.
Over the years, Mark Tennant has developed an unmistakable signature style. Drawing inspiration from the work of Édouard Manet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he paints in bold, thick strokes. The artist’s masterful use of color and shadow gives his paintings a distinct, photograph-like quality.
Mark Tennant uses photographs he took himself or found as a base for his paintings. However, instead of recreating what the photos depict, he focuses on capturing the glaring highlights and deep shadows, which adds realism to his paintings without ridding them of their dream-like atmosphere. Tennant’s works evoke similar emotions one feels when looking at photographs of their parents when they were young: they feel familiar yet far away. You know these people, but the versions of them looking at you from the picture are long gone.
While Mark Tennant is not limited in choosing his subjects, many of his best-known works depict young women. Whether they are dancing at a party, smoking, hanging out with friends, or looking at paintings in a museum, Tennant’s subjects are the embodiments of the rebellious spirit of girlhood and youth. Their faces are often blurred, and these girls do not have specific identities. Instead, they are a manifestation of an experience that is only available to us once in our lives.
Fine Art Shippers is happy to work closely with such an amazing artist as Mark Tennant. It was a great pleasure to reconnect with him at the opening of “Memento Mori,” and we hope that there will be many more opportunities like this in the future. The artist’s new solo art show will be on view at Georges Bergès Gallery through May 7, 2024.