Mark Velasquez is a photographer who competed on the first season of Bravo's reality television competition, '' Work of Art: The Next Great Artist''.

Early life

Velasquez attended and was an altar boy at St. Mary of the Assumption School and St. Louis de Montfort School. He attended St. Joseph High School (Santa Maria, California) and Cornish College of the Arts (

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

) where he studied drawing, sculpture and performance art. Velasquez is an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

and a member of the

Elks The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

. He has worked at his family's restaurant Tom's Take-Out since he was 14 years old in a variety of roles, most notably as a fry cook. He realized his love for photography after he began photographically documenting his own performance art pieces.

Influences

While Velasquez's imagery can be alluring and often features scantily clad women, he cites

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

as his primary inspiration. "Rockwell used people from his small town, his friends, neighbors, children ... making art from what you have around you."

Career

Work of Art: The Next Great Artist

In August 2009 Velasquez participated in the Los Angeles, California open casting call for Bravo TV's art-themed reality television program Work of Art: The Next Great Artist. He was selected to be a contestant and competed on the program for 8 of 10 episodes until being voted off during episode 8: Opposites Attract, a Heaven and Hell-themed collaborative challenge with co-contestant

Peregrine Honig Peregrine Honig (born 1976 in San Francisco, CA) is an American artist whose work is concerned with the relationship between pop culture, sexual vulnerability, social anxieties, the ethics of luxury and trends in consumerism. Honig appeared on ...

. Honig wanted to depict hell through Velasquez's abdominal scar, a visual record of his bout with

diverticulitis Diverticulitis, specifically colonic diverticulitis, is a gastrointestinal disease characterized by inflammation of abnormal pouches—diverticula—which can develop in the wall of the large intestine. Symptoms typically include lower abdominal ...

. While Mark initially fought back, saying that he didn't feel that the scar represented hell, he eventually acquiesced. The judges found the concept "uninspiring and clichéd." Host China Chow notably "fought back tears" while announcing the judges' decision that Velasquez would not continue.

Show & Tell

May 2010 marked the publication of ''Show & Tell'', an 80-page hard-cover book collecting Velasquez's photographs of six models who represent milestones in his early career. The book includes ruminations on his experiences and relationships with each model and how both have changed over the course of their friendships.

NSFW magazine

In November 2010 Velasquez launched '' NSFW magazine'' with collaborator Michael Neff. ''

NSFW Not safe for work (NSFW) is Internet slang or shorthand used to mark links to content, videos, or website pages the viewer may not wish to be seen looking at in a public, formal or controlled environment. The marked content may contain nudity, p ...

'', an acronym for Not Safe For Work, is a quarterly publication. Each issue is centered on a theme and features photographs and writings by Velasquez, a column written by Hilary Underwood, and photographs of model Kacie Marie.

References

External links

markvelasquez.com
Official website
Mark Velasquez Photography on FacebookWork of Art exit interview with ''Artinfo
''">Artinfo">Work of Art exit interview with ''Artinfo
''br>The Stranger">''The Stranger (newspaper), The Stranger
'' coverage of Mark's progress on Work of Artbr>NSFW on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velasquez, Mark American photographers Fashion photographers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)