Biography
Mark Brennan is a Canadian landscape artist whose work is an exploration of the human connection and contemporary use of the landscape. He works primarily as a landscape painter and photographer. Marks formal study period took place in the Royal Navy where he was exposed to many forms of photography as a ship’s photographer.
“I believe there is a subconscious interaction between all of us and the places we live. The stories of our lives and the way in which each of us connects to one another are deeply influenced by our understanding of the places and processes we come into contact with. When I paint or photograph, I am driven by both past memory and experiences in natural areas as a child, I feel as if I am seeking some kind of perfection through self expression.”
In the mid 1990’s he became friends with writer, philosopher and environmentalist David Orton (1934-2011). David helped Mark expand his understanding of the human place within nature and the fractured ecological relationship that has come to define our time. This drew Mark into activism in the 1990’s where he led efforts to protect wilderness areas in Nova Scotia.
“When you come to identify deeply with the landscape, you see it as yourself in a way, it is this ‘self realization’ that gives me the energy to express this sense of completeness or wholeness of ‘being’ through my work which is more a pathway of continued examination and deep gratitude for all life.”
His work as a landscape painter has taken him across Canada seeking out remnant intact landscapes that evoke the ‘essence’ of completeness. His recent collection of landscape paintings, ‘Kissing the Shoreline’ is a literal examination of the wild coastline of Nova Scotia where he explored and painted some of the most remote wild coastal areas by sea kayak and on foot. Previous to this Mark produced a body of work using medium format film called, ‘Almost an Island’ in which he looked at Nova Scotia’s relationship with its remaining wild coastline. His other book, Limits on Gatherings, is a photographic response to the Covid19 pandemic where he sought out normalcy photographing the landscape as the pandemic progressed. This body of work was published in mid 2022 and is a part of the National Gallery of Canada library collection and the library collection of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
Mark works from his studio in Northern Nova Scotia.