Mark Francis

Mark Francis creates powerful, optically intense paintings that reflect the insights of contemporary science.

Biography of Mark Francis

Mark Francis was born in 1962 in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. Francis pursued his education in art, earning a BA from St. Martin's College of Art, London, from 1981 to 1985, followed by an MA from Chelsea School of Art, London, from 1985 to 1986.

In 1993, he received the Grand Prize Tokyo International Print Exhibition. Francis' other awards and accolades include the IMMA/Glen Dimplex Artists Award from the Irish Museum of Modern Art (1996), the Public Art Development Trust (1997), the Artist Associateship from Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge (2009), and the Artist Associateship from London Mathematical Society (2015). 

His recent solo exhibitions include "Harmonic Fields" at Fox Jensen McCrory Gallery in Auckland (2024), "Echo Field" at Luca Tommasi Arte Contemporanea in Milan (2022), "Resonate" at Ubicua Gallery in London (2022), "Echo Vision" at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin (2022), "Reverb" at Bernhard Knaus in Frankfurt (2021), and "Re-Sound" at Graphic Studio Dublin (2020). 

Additionally, Mark Francis' works have been featured in numerous group shows held at various galleries and museums worldwide, including Thames-Side Studios in London, Museum Wilhelm Morgner in Soest, After Nyne Gallery in London, Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, Galerie Floss und Schultz in Köln, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London, among other esteemed venues. 

He currently lives and works in London.

Mark Francis' Art Style

Mark Francis' work is characterized by a sense of movement and vibrational energy, achieved through electric color contrasts, dynamic patterns, and precise brushwork. His paintings often feature fields of color interspersed with orbs or pulsating linear forms that mimic streams of light, sonic vibrations, or seismic graphs.

Inspired by both cosmic and molecular scientific phenomena, Francis explores visual worlds made accessible by electron microscopes and sonic data from outer space. His fascination with science allows him to create striking imagery from invisible elements, sparking a tension between order and chaos, knowledge and mystery. This duality is at the heart of his work, combining the feats of manmade technology with the wonder of the unknowable.