EXTENSIVE though it is, Mark Carson English’s work—an entire body of paintings spanning more than four decades—still reflects the wonder, imagination and freedom of “Little Marco,” the young boy who fell in love with art through the eyes of his mentor, Adamo. Born and raised in a conservative family in Tennessee, English found his voice through paint, exploring worlds and thoughts through the movements of his brush, through the colors and pigments and textures that spoke from the canvas.
As inherently talented as he was, the young English needed direction to hone his craft, finding it under the tutelage of such artists as LeRoy Neiman, Murat Kaboulov and Igor Raikhline. “They were big influences on me, and I would also read and look at photos and books of artists and their work,” he says. “I would try to figure out how they did it and if I could do something like that, because the schools I went to didn’t really have a great art program.”
Everything that English learned from the artists he studied under, coupled with the techniques he taught himself, gave him a quality of work that people were drawn to, and he sold his first painting in high school.
It took years for English’s high school passion to become more than a dalliance, but the now 59-year-old painter has amassed a portfolio of more than 15,000 pieces. “I may have forgotten a few of them along the way,” he says jokingly, though his prolific painting makes the statement more than believable.
True to his unique nature, English paints people and things his way. “I want to paint them the way I see and feel them, not necessarily the way they look,” says the artist, who tends toward works of contemporary and abstract expressionism, though he also paints French-style expressionism, contemporary pop and representational media. “I’ve leaned a lot more toward creating pieces that are emotionally driven and intriguing to the viewer. Pieces that make you think. It’s the way you paint something that resonates with people most. It’s all in the technique, the compositional perspective and the way that you create it to be able to tell the story. Whatever I’m painting, I want people to experience positive energy when viewing or collecting the piece.”
English has built a loyal following of collectors across the United States and works with galleries all over the nation, in addition to having relationships with numerous designers, art consultants, art dealers and architectural firms.
