Mark Titchner (born 1973) is an English artist, and 2006 nominee for the

Turner Prize The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

. He lives and works in London. Focusing on an exploration of words and language, in recent years much of his production has been based in the public realm both in the UK and internationally. These public works have often been created from extended group activities.

Early life

Titchner was born in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

and grew up in the adjacent town of

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

. He graduated from

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

, London, in 1995.

Career

In 2006 Titchner was nominated for the Turner Prize for a solo show at the

Arnolfini Arnolfini is an international arts centre and gallery in Bristol, England. It has a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, artist's performance, music and dance events, poetry and book readings, talks, lectures and cinema. There is also a ...

, Bristol, in which he displayed the sculptural installation "How To Change Behaviour (Tiny Masters Of The World Come Out)". The

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

described his work in the following manner:

... hybrid installations furthered his exploration into systems of belief. Working across a wide range of media, including light boxes and extraordinary hand-carved contraptions, his work continues to interweave a vast array of references from heavy metal lyrics to philosophy.

In 2007 he was included in the 52nd Venice Biennale exhibiting in Ukraine's Pavilion, ''A Poem about an Inland Sea''. A solo exhibition ''Run, Black River, Run'' followed at

BALTIC Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, Gateshead early in 2008. His book ''WHY AND WHY NOT'' was published by

Bookworks Book Works is a London-based publisher of books on contemporary visual arts, and print studio specialising in bookbinding, letterpress printing, boxmaking, and printmaking. Established in 1984, it has "the mission to disseminate visual art practice ...

in 2004. In 2003, he had a solo show ''Be Angry but Don't Stop Breathing'' as part of the ''Art Now'' series at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

. In 2011, he had a solo show "Be True to Your Oblivion" at

The New Art Gallery Walsall The New Art Gallery Walsall is a modern and contemporary art gallery sited in the centre of the West Midlands town of Walsall, England. It was built with £21 million of public funding, including £15.75 million from the UK National Lottery and ...

. This exhibition formed part of Capsule's Home of Metal project, a huge cultural project to establish Birmingham and the Black Country as the home of heavy metal. He was the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

Artist-in-Residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

from September to October 2012. He is regularly working in public (e.g. Blackpool in 2016, Manchester in 2017, Royal Bethlem Hospital London in 2019, Colchester in 2020) where his works reach a broad audience and attention. His work is held in the permanent collections of The Arts Council,

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

South London Gallery The South London Gallery, founded 1891, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London. Until 1992, it was known as the South London Art Gallery, and nowadays the acronym SLG is often used. Margot Heller became its direct ...

, the United Kingdom

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in t ...

and the

Exhibitions

*''Mark Titchner'' (2014) CGP and Dilston Grove, London *''Be true to your Oblivion'' (2011)

New Art Gallery Walsall The New Art Gallery Walsall is a modern and contemporary art gallery sited in the centre of the West Midlands town of Walsall, England. It was built with £21 million of public funding, including £15.75 million from the UK National Lottery and ...

*''Run, Black River, Run'' (2008)

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, Gateshead *''We Were Thinking of Evolving'' (2003), Vilma Gold, London *''Bag Lady!'' (2003), Cell Project Space, London *''Electric Earth'' (2003), International

touring show *''The Galleries Show'' (2002),

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

, London *''Playing amongst the Ruins'' (2001),

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, London *''City Racing (A Partial History)'' (2001), ICA, London

Selected Public works

*
''Me. Here. Now''.
''(2018) London Bridge Station - Stainer Street Art commission *''What I want more than anything else,'' (2017) Various venues Hull, Wigan, Leigh & Burnley. Commissioned by

FACT A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

*
Beacon
', (2016) The Hat Factory,

*
Live the life that you imagine
', (2015) One St Peters Square, Manchester *
Our work is today together
', (2015 ) Sceaux Gardens Estate, London (Commissioned by

) * *

References

External links