My work has always been centred in colour; colour as a spatial, emotional and formal understanding. Whatever the representational or abstract motif might be the subject matter has always been a profound joy in mixing and organising colour relationships. I am, it seems, unable to simply begin making without inspiration from a place or event, normally explored through drawing. Paul Klee famously said One eye sees, the other feels; this neatly summarises the balance I seek between empiricism and lyricism. Analysing and composing are inseparable from looking, the interrogation of reality that frees the hand to improvise. The second strand of my making is underpinned by sacramental theology. As David Jones put it we are sign makers, from the laying of a table to elaborate ceremonies, we imbue the simplest routines with meaning, made for others to see. I make art in order to communicate visible signs for inward invisible transformations. Increasingly these signs are best described as musical settings dealing with rhythms, harmonies, discords, counterpoint and melody. I am not sure I can account for their exact meaning, they are statements of experience seen through the eternal lens of imagination, made out of gratitude and connection.
Mark Cazalet is a contemporary artist based in London and Suffolk, UK. He trained at Chelsea School of Art and then Falmouth School of Art for Degree level. Immediately after graduating he was awarded the French government’s National studentship award to study in France. He studied at L’cole-des-Beaux-Arts paris, in the studio of Christian Boltanski. Simultaneously to this scholarship he was awarded a year at the Cite-des-Arts studio complex in the Marais. After a year back in London he went to M.S. University Baroda for an eighteen month Association of Commonwealth Universities Scholarship to study under Professor Fulham Mohamed Sheikh. Since his return to the Uk he has held a number of residencies and in 2102 and 2013 was artist in residence twice at The Anni and Josef Albers Foundation in Connecticut, America. Mark is a Senior Member of Faculty at The Royal drawing School and teaches at West Dean College, The Edward James Foundation, Sussex. He is a Trustee of City and Guilds of London Art School.
CV
Education
1988-9 Commonwealth Universities Scholarship: Baroda University, Gujerat State, India
1986-7 French Consul National Studentship Award: L’Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris; awarded one-year residency at the Cite-Internationale-des-Arts, Paris
1983-6 Falmouth School of Art: BA Fine Art
1982-3 Chelsea School of Art: foundation course
Solo Exhibitions
2022
New Growth, Spring, Serena Morton Gallery, London
2021
The Stillness, the Dancing, Serena Morton Gallery, London
Spaces: within and without, retrospective of Mark Cazalet’s vision, Clare Hall Cambridge
2019
Quiet Radiance, Serena Morton Gallery, London
2018
Resonances: Serena Morton Gallery, London
2016
Silent colour Meditation: a great cloud of witnesses, 153 heads, St Edmundsbury Cathedral
2015
Moments of Transformation, Curwen gallery, London
2014
Too serious to be serious, Lynne Strover Gallery, Cambridge
2012
The Ocean in a Tree, The Concert Hall Gallery, Snape Maltings, Suffolk
2010
A Plot of Ground, Jason Hicklin and Mark Cazalet, Beardsmore Gallery, London
2008
Everyday Epiphany, Beardsmore Gallery, London
Stations of the Cross, Salisbury Cathedral
2006
Seeing as Beleiving, Catmose Gallery, Rutland
Holyland, a painted pilgrimage, Michaelhouse Centre, Cambridge
2005
Travelling with open eyes, Guildford Cathedral
On Shifting Ground, Images from Palestine & Israel, All Hallows by the Tower, London
2004
An Egyptian Apocrypha, St Katherine Cree, London
2002
Bath Rugby Residency Drawings, Museum of Rugby, Twickenham
The Sound of Trees, Six Chapel Row Contemporary Art, Bath
2000
West London Stations of the Cross, Carden Gallery, Kensal Green Cemetery, London
The Four Quartets, Lady Margret Hall, Oxford University
1998
Cathedrals of Industry, Museum of London
1996
Paradoxes and Paradigms, Lichfield Cathedral
1995
Intangible Worlds, East West Gallery, Blenheim Crescent, London;
1994-6
The Path to Calvary, Rocket Contemporary Art, Cork Street, London & touring to: The Lincoln Cathedral & Usher Gallery, Winchester Cathedral; Lady Margaret Hall Chapel
1993
Pictures out of India, The Nehru Centre, London
1992
Indian Rhythms, Wycombe Museum Gallery, High Wycombe
Christopher Hull Gallery, London
Selected Group Shows
2019
Small is Beautiful XXXVI, Flowers Gallery, London
Pastel Society (Henri Roche Prize winner), Mall Galleries London
2018
APT + One, A.P.T. Gallery and Studios, London
2015
Locus, Beardsmore Gallery, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Conversations Prize (short listed), and The Pastel Society, The Mall Galleries London
2014
Jerwood Drawing Prize, Derwent Drawing Competition, Discerning Eye, London
Mark Cazalet, Frances Hatch, Jonathan Newdick, Kevis House Gallery, Petworth
2011
British Art Today, five person group show, Museum Obermunster, Regensburg, Germany
Bite, contemporary print exhibition, and The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2008
Islington Art Fair, Modern Works On Paper Art Fair, Chelsea Art Fair London
2007
Images for Easter, London Spirituality Centre, St Edmund’s Church, London
Sundaday Times Watercolour Competition
2006
Backyard Beauties , Artspace, Southwell
London Now: City of Hell, City of Heaven, Guildhall Art Gallery, London
2005
Faith, Castle Museum Gallery, Nottingham
2004
Presence, Images of Christ for the Third millenium, St Pauls Cathedral
Visions of London, Art Space Gallery, London
Seeing Salvation Now, North Light Gallery, Huddersfield
2002
Falling Leaves, Salisbury Festival, Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum
Huntington Art Award Exhibition, Royal College of Art London
Summer in the City, England & Co, London
2001
National Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London
Nature from Wood, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Assembly (Bath Rugby, crowd drawings) South West Arts Residency
2000
Stations: The New Sacred Art, Blythburgh Church, Suffolk
The Salutation, Nicholas Mynheer, Roger Wagner and Richard Webb, St Andrew’s, Oxford
Blake’s Contemporaries, Scholar Fine Art, London
1999
Land Marks (3-person show), Jill George Gallery, London
The Light of the World, City of Edinburgh Gallery and Museums
1998
Royal Over-Seas League Fifteenth Annual Open Exhibition (and Eleventh 1994), London
Cheltenham Open Drawing Exhibition (and 1994), touring show
1997
Poetry of Place, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, Suffolk
1996
Art in 8 Northern Churches, + Richard Webb, Tour & Reg Vardy Gallery, Sunderland Univ
The Discerning Eye (and 1992), Mall Galleries, London
1995
Third Drawing Show, Jill George Gallery, London
1993
Images of Christ, Northampton Museum & Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral
1991
Images of Christ, Albemarle Gallery, London
1990
Pictures of Passiontide, with Albert Herbert and Richard Webb, St Marylebone Church,
Publications and Broadcasts
Green Thoughts: the art of Thomas Denny Image Magazine 2015
Opening artist’s eyes, IB Review volume 1 February 2015
Belief, 30minute interview with Joan Bakewell, BBC Radio 3, 2nd Aril 2013 (www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rl33b)
St George’s day, Sunday: Canon Andrew Shanks, BBC Radio 4, Sunday 25th April 2010
Pevsner Editor to Romford Please! Revd Tom Devonshire-Jones, Church Building, issue 102, Dec 2006
Mark Cazalet, Bianca Fanciullacci, Veritasse, Autumn/Winter 2006
London Now; City of Hell,City of Heaven, London Arts Café Magazine, issue 17, Winter 2005
Economy and Ingenuity at Chelmsford,two new artworks, Peter Judd, Church Building, issue 89, 2005
A very different Picture, Mark Cazalet, The Tablet, 28 January 2005
The Tree of Life, Chelmsford mural unveiled, Peter judd, Arts and Christian Enquiry, No41, January 2005
Faith, Nottingham City Art Galleries, Richard Davey, 2004
A tale of two windows, Leslie Griffiths, Arts and Christian Enquiry, No 39, July 2004
To Golgotha via the Westway, Mark Cazalet, The Tablet, 20 March 2004
An artist makes his pilgrimage, Nicholas Cranfield, The Church Times, 19 March 2004
Mark Cazalet’s Tree of Life, Mireille Gallinou, London Arts Café Magazine, issue 14, Spring/Summer 2004
Artist answers questions; Mark Cazalet, London Arts Café Magazine, issue 12, Spring/Summer 2003
He painted a path to Calvary, text by Tom Devonshire Jones, Country life, April 17 2003
Refurbishment of the Fraser Chapel, Manchester Cathedral,Church Building, Issue 74, April 2002
Worcester Cathedral–The Millenium Window, text by Mark Cazalet, Church Building, Issue 65, Oct 2002
Stations: The New Sacred Art, text by Canon Revd Richard Davey, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, 2000
Stations of the Cross, Anglia Television interview on Bury St Edmunds Stations project, Easter Day 2000
Salutation, text by David Patterson, St Nicholas Church, 2000
Big Plant, Radio 4 interview on the gasometer paintings, transmitted, Autumn, 1999
The Light of the World, David Patterson (ed), City of Edinburgh Museum and Galleries, 1999
‘The Theological Implications of Christian Boltanski’s Art’, text by Mark Cazalet, Art and Christian, Enquiry Bulletin, No. 15, July 1998
‘Sign of the Times’, text by Oliver Bevan, Artists & Illustrators, 135, December 1997
The Power and the Glory, Radio 3 interview, with Revd Dr G. L. Pattison, transmitted Spring 1997
‘The Dilemma of the Religious Artist: The Art of Mark Cazalet’, text by Anna Moszynska, Image, No. 16, Summer 1997
‘The Dialectic Between Art and Faith’, text by Mark Cazalet, Modern Believing, Vol. 137, No. 4, 1996
Mark Cazalet: Intangible Worlds, text by Frances Spalding (East West Gallery exhibition), 1995
The Path to Calvary, text by Frances Makower, lino-cuts by Mark Cazalet, designed and letterpress, printed by The Rocket Press, Blewbury, 1994; paperback edition: St Paul’s Publishing, 2000
Mark Cazalet: A New Sacred Art, text by Revd Richard Davey, (The Path to Calvary exhibition), Rocket Contemporary Art, 1994
Images of Christ, Revd Tom Devonshire Jones (ed), St Matthew’s (Northampton) Centenary Art Committee, 1993
Collections
The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation
Birmingham City Library
British Council, Bombay, India
Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, London
Edward James Foundation, West Dean College
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Getty Center, California, USA (The Path to Calvary, book)
Guildhall Art Gallery, London
Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council Collection
Hounslow and Spelthorne Community and Mental Health Service Trust
Indian High Commission, Nehru Centre, London
Kuwait National Collection
Lady Margret Hall, Oxford University
Methodist 20th-Century Art Collection
Msheireb Properties Collection, Doha, Qatar
Museum of London
Museum of Rugby, Twickenham, London
Taunton and Somerset Hospital
University of Alberta
University of Iowa
University of Surrey, Roehampton
Victoria Art Gallery Bath
Ecclesiastical Commissions
St Albans Romford, The angels of the four elements of creation, painted Chancel ceiling
St Clements parish, north Kensington, Lenten Carnival, triptych
Chelmsford Cathedral, The Tree of life mural and St Cedd, engraved and etched glass window
Manchester Cathedral, Fraser’s Chapel, stained glass window and reredos
Frances Bardesley School for Girls, Romford, Women of the Bible, painted triptych
Holy Trinity, Bosham; new tapestry altar frontal and pulpit fall for Ordinary Season
The Church of the Epiphany, Qatar; The Epiphany Star, painted reredos
Jerusalem room, Hackney Free School, The Three Johanine Healings triptych
St Peter’s Winchester, Water and light, triptych
Chapel of Reconcilliation, Communityof the Resurrection, Mirfield, engraved and etched glass screen
Our Lady of Grace and St Teresa of Avila, Chingford; Christus Cross
Our Lady of Lourdes, Wanstead, Seven Episodes from the life of Mary paintings
St Mary’s, Stouting, Kent, The Resurection, painting
St Mary the Virgin, Lakenheath, Suffolk, high-altar crucfix
Stowe School Chapel, prayer space door, Four Prophets, engraved and etched glass
The Church of the Good Shepherd, Brighton, Stations of the Cross
Wesley’s Chapel, London; The English, Sangster and Weatherhead Windows, etched and engraved glass
Worcester Cathedral, The Millenium window, etched and engraved glass
Residencies
2016 St Edmundsbury Cathedral one year artist-in-residence; Silent Colour Meditation project
2015 Borgo Pignano Artist residency programme, Tuscanny, Italy
2013 Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, CT, USA, artist in residence
2012 Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, CT, USA, artist in residence
2011 Msheireb Residency, Doha, Qatar: Dohaland architectural project
2007 West Dean College Summer School, artist in residence
2004 Palestine/Israel Pilgrimage with Biblelands, artist in residence
2003 Egypt Pilgrimage with Biblelands, artist in residence
2001 Assembly, South West Arts artist in residence at Bath Rugby Club
Teaching and other posts
2016 to 2022 & 2006–2011: Degree Tutor, Drawing and Print BA course, UWE, Bristol
2009 – ongoing: senior Member of Faculty and Academic Board Member The Royal Drawing School, London
1992 – ongoing: senior tutor at The Edward James Foundation West Dean College, Sussex
1997 – ongoing: tutor at Arts in Provence, Les Bassacs, Provence
2012 – 2020: Trustee, City and Guild School of Art London
2011: chaired the committee redrawing the guidelines for commissioning new art in Anglican Churches for Council of Bishops Heritage Division
2009 – ongoing: Heritage Committee, Drapers Livery Company
2006 – 2010: Westminster Diocese Art and Architecture Committee
2002 – 2010: Council for the Care of Churches, Council Member and art advisor