About Mark

Mark Leighton - artist, printmaker, sculptor

[Photo: Tom Leighton, photosbytomtom.com]

 

Biography

Mark is part of the post-war generation that found themselves growing up in the grey and oppressive world of 1950s England. Self-expression was discouraged, and the hangover of conformity required to recover from the cataclysm of the war bred intolerance and an unwillingness on the part of society to allow anything outside the necessity of hanging on grimly to a faded empire.

Paradoxically, there was still a feeling of hope, that something could be accomplished, that art was worth funding and exhibiting. The movement in the arts which blossomed from this unpromising ground in the 1960s therefore felt revolutionary. And, in hindsight, it was revolutionary. The 1960s generation laid the ground work for how we think about society now. Our values of openness, tolerance of others, and an unwillingness to accept authoritarianism and diktat, took seed and root in that generation.

Mark studied art and print making at most of the major art schools of the UK at the time and was repeatedly selected from his contemporaries to exhibit at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.

While he has continued to paint, print and sculpt throughout his life, Mark has dedicated most of the last three decades to ensuring the successful education of his 6 children. He now lives in Cambridge, UK and is returning to art full time.

Mark is increasingly finding he is in demand for commissions. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss.

Mark studied at:

  • Hammersmith Art College

  • St Martin's Art School

  • Leeds Art School

  • Wimbledon Art School

  • Royal College of Art

  • The Royal University College of Fine Arts (KKH) - Stockholm

Exhibitions:

  • Hammersmith Local Artists. 1959. London.

  • Ealing Art Exhibition, 1960. Middlesex, London.

  • Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,London. 1967,1968 and1970.

  • Young London Artists, Greater London Council Art Exhibition, Holland Park, London.1969.

  • Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Glasgow,Scotland. 1970.

  • Three Painters, Wimbledon Art School, Merton. 1968.

  • Shropshire Artists, Bridgenorth, Shropshire. 1983.

  • Pizza Express, Brighton, Surrey. 1983.

  • Tour Gallery, Tour, France.1993.

  • Angers Art School Gallery, Angers. France. 1991.

  • Transcendental Meditation Artists Exhibition, Rendlesham, Suffolk, 2009.

  • Wilberforce Road Art Gallery, Cambridge, 2012.

  • Wilberforce Road Art Gallery, Cambridge, 2016.