“This is 2020, the strangest year ever, and I just need to paint,” says artist Mark Garro. The Catskill Mountains, New York-based painter’s career is expansive, having started out as an illustrator in the ’80s and ’90s, spending more than 15 years visually bringing to life over 100 paperbacks in the fantasy genre, creating cover art for author R.L. Stine’s Ghosts of Fear Street series and much more. 

In recent years, however, Garro’s attention is on fine art. “I always had a tendency toward fine art, but was trained as an illustrator,” says Garro, who attended Syracuse University for painting and illustration. “I don’t feel normal unless I’m painting, it’s who I am.” There’s something other-worldly, fantastical and deeply metaphorical about Garro’s paintings, which hinge on themes of heaven and hell, good versus evil, or right and wrong. Having studied everyone from Dalí to Church, Rembrandt to Rockwell, and even Pollock, the imagery in Garro’s art takes viewers on a personal journey rooted in something far beyond typical reality. 2 B or Not 2B, acrylic on panel, in frame hand made and painted by the artist, 18 x 11"

Bon Voyage, oil on panel, in antique frame restored and decorated by the artist, 17 x 23"

In his latest body of work, for instance, we see a giant woman rising from the ocean, perhaps a goddess, seemingly either moving away from or guiding the direction of a sailboat nearly the size of her hands in Bon Voyage. The prevailing concept behind his artwork for the tumultuous year that is 2020 was to just paint, the artist says. He explains that he explored all of his reference photos and files, and simply picked poses he liked from his old photo shoots. No contemplation or deliberation—going off of feeling alone. As he works on a painting, “eventually concepts reveal themselves to me. I just have to pay attention.”Blue Wail Blues, oil and acrylic on panel, 36 x 46"

In Gene Weaver, a woman exuding spiritual qualities is seen weaving DNA strands. “She’s Mother Nature, she’s birth, she’s God. It always comes down to those main, simple themes,” says Garro. The scenes and figures in Garro’s work invite the viewer to draw their own conclusions, to find meaning on their own terms. He explains, “I always like people to look at my pieces, ponder them, and reflect that back to me, rather than me tell them what’s going on…[People] will ask me, ‘What is it about?’ And I tell them, ‘Look at it for six months, come back and tell me.’” Gene Weaver, acrylic and oil on panel, in antique frame restored and decorated by the artist, 25 x 19"

Dreams of Clymene, acrylic and oil with 24k gold leaf in antique frame, restored and decorated by the artist, 24 x 14"

This new body of work, which also includes pieces such as Blue Wail Blues and the Trompe l’Oeil 2 B or Not 2B, will be on view at Haven Gallery in Northport, New York, through January 10. “Through the artist’s witty use of scale, word play and illusionary techniques, one finds themselves mesmerized and intrigued by the seamless merging of the artist’s worlds,” says gallery owner Erica Berkowitz. “Garro creates artwork that beguiles and awakens, both with its beauty and its play on dualities.” —

Haven Gallery  155 Main Street • Northport, NY 11768 (631) 757-0500 • www.havenartgallery.com 

Powered by Froala Editor