Mark Surridge is a painter who to some extent works in a very English tradition, landscape, which is the base on which he says he is “grappling with abstract relationships between shapes, colours and textures on the picture plane.” At first glance his work looks abstract and the results have their own very personal syntax, punctuation and orchestration. They become almost performances of landscape rather than a celebratory record.

In notes he made two years ago, he refers to train journeys from home in Cornwall to London and back, and he says how many of his paintings have been affected by memories of views seen from the train and his awareness of the ‘frame’ of the windows. Of all modes of transport, the train can lull the passenger into a state that might be called translucence of mind. As the train picks up speed, the vistas become fleeting and objects close by seem to fly, just as the paint appears to be flying in some of Surridge’s pictures.

Further into his notes, he says he starts with landscape. “I enter into it with a sketch book, I draw, take notes. I look for contrasts, strong shapes, sometimes making written notes.” His walks in the Cornish countryside are part of his daily routine.
Surridge works to produce paintings as a series, and he says that a residue of information and sensations keeps trying to come through from a previous series. There is certainly continuity in his work but, underlying all, development, exploration and risk are evident.

Surridge’s paint is arresting. Broad one-stroke brush marks make one think of lvon Hitchens who also caught aspects of landscape on the wing! Random spatters of thick pigment and scratchings add to an overall orchestration. The viewer might also sense a manifestation of speed, rushes of air. This is not to suggest that the paintings have been done quickly. They are hard-wrought pieces suggesting a sensibility as sensitive as litmus paper to the moods of his chosen terrain.

Liam Hanley 2003

Born 1963, London.
Studied at Maidstone College of Art (BA Hons) 1981-84.
Moved to Cornwall 1997.
Sons, Max born 1993, Theo born 1999.
Elected member of Newlyn Society of Artists 1997 .

Solo exhibitions
2006 Air Voices, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall.
2005 Elemental Secrets, Beardsmore Gallery, London.
2004 Weather Changes, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall.
2003 Land Veils, Beardsmore Gallery, London.
2001 Elemental Landscapes, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall.
2000 Beardsmore Gallery, London.

Selected mixed exhibitions
2006 London Art Fair 2006, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
2005 London Art Fair 2005, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
Hunting Art Prizes, Royal College of Art, London.
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London.
Critic’s Choice (Prof Norbert Lynton), Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, Cornwall
on behalf of Newlyn Society of Artists.
NSA Christmas Exhibition, Campden Gallery, Gloucestershire,
selected by Nicholas Usherwood.
2004 Art 2004, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
Critic’s Choice (John Russell Taylor), Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
2003 Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Glyndebourne Gallery, East Sussex.
Art 2003, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
Critic’s Choice (Joan Bakewell), Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London.
Weather Report II, exhibited and curated group exhibition with Marion Taylor,
Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
2002 The Space Between, Merriscourt Gallery, Oxfordshire. (Two-person exhibition).
Art 2002, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
Affordable Art Fair, Beardsmore Gallery, London.
Ten, Beardsmore Gallery, London.
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London.
20/21 British Art Fair, the Commonwealth Institute, London.
2001 Hunting Art Prizes, Royal College of Art, London (prizewinner).
Art 2001, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
Critic’s Choice, Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
New Year Exhibition, Cadogan Contemporary, London.
Easter Exhibition, Beardsmore Gallery, London.
2000 Merriscourt Gallery, Oxfordshire. (Three-person exhibition).
Art 2000, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
Hunting Art Prizes, Royal College of Art, London.
The Dividing Line, Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
Editions of Lithographic prints for Club Quarter, St Paul’s, London
(commission by Beardsmore Gallery).
1999 Art 1999, Beardsmore Gallery, Business Design Centre, London.
Critic’s Choice (William Packer), Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
Cornish Art in the Nineties, Beatrice Royal Gallery, Hampshire.
The Dark Show (Eclipse), Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
Falmouth Gallery, lecturers’ exhibition, Falmouth College of Arts, Cornwall.
Summer Exhibition, Beardsmore Gallery, London.
1998 Critic’s Choice (Theo Waddington), Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
Newlyn Now, NSA artists at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol.
Royal Overseas League, Annual Open Exhibition, London, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Summer Exhibition Part II, Newlyn Art Gallery.
Six of the Best, Blockhouse Gallery, Cornwall.
1997 Limelight, Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall.
1996 Dillon Gallery, London.
Whitechapel Open Studios, London.
1995 Royal Overseas League Annual Open Exhibition, London, Edinburgh
Space Open Studios, London.
1994 Summer Exhibition, Burlington New Gallery, London.
Whitechapel Open Studios, London.
1993 Space Open Studios, London.
Smith’s Gallery, London.

Publications
2006 Air Voices, exhibition catalogue, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall,
foreword by David Falconer.
‘Editor’s Choice’, Cornwall Today magazine.
2005 Elemental Secrets, exhibition catalogue, Beardsmore Gallery, foreword by Pip Palmer.
The Guardian, ‘Living on the Edge’, Artist of the Month.
Cornwall Today, ‘Hot Seat’, August edition.
Grand Designs Magazine, chapel feature, August edition.
2004 Weather Changes, exhibition catalogue, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall, foreword by David Falconer.
2003 Land Veils, exhibition catalogue, Beardsmore Gallery, London, foreword by Liam Hanley.
Winter 2003–2004, mixed exhibition catalogue, New Millennium Gallery,
St Ives, Cornwall.
Galleries Magazine, May issue, reviewed by Pip Palmer.
‘Cornish Inspiration’, Cornwall Arts Magazine (Winter 2003).
2002 The Space Between, exhibition catalogue, Merriscourt Gallery, London.
2001 Elemental Landscapes, exhibition catalogue, New Millennium Gallery, St Ives,
Cornwall, foreword by Maurice Cockrill.
Newlyn Society of Artists Members’ Book, NSA publication.
2000 Exhibition catalogue, Beardsmore Gallery, London, foreword by Elizabeth Knowles.
1998 Royal Overseas League catalogue.
1995 Royal Overseas League catalogue.

Private collections in UK, Europe and USA.