The Brighthope Memory

The Brighthope Memory, mixed media on wood panel, 120 x 90 cm

Mark Charlton, born in Margate in 1976, studied at the North East Wales Institute of Art and Design, gaining a BA Hons in Animation Design in 2001.  After spending many productive years working as a freelance animator and motion designer primarily in the music industry, he has devoted his time to developing his own style in mixed media art.  His work is an abstract combination of screen print, painting and collage technique, which allows the exploration of surface texture and graphical composition and he takes inspiration from space exploration and science fiction from the 1950s and 1960s in which he embraces colour and shape and amalgamates with a contemporary gritty urban feel.  The work is energetic and spontaneous, using multiple layers, which are built up over a substantial period of time, until a final composition is realised and refined.  He finds a unique excitement in this layered approach which sees screen print forced to react with painted and collaged surfaces.  Multiple techniques are used to decay and age the surface, which culminates in a final piece that has a striking first impression and a gentle beauty within its close up detail.