Mark Sarmel is a multi-disciplinary creative making totally rad work.
Bio
Mark Sarmel is the not-so-secret-secret identity of Mark Moreno. He has worked as an Illustrator and designer since graduating from the College for Creative Studies. As a designer he has worked with major brands such as Ford, Chevy, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and more. He’s also rocked out with brands like JBL and even found some time to design games with Shinola. His design work is highly detailed, rigorously researched and most of all, eye catching.
As an Artist Mark works under the name Mark Sarmel. Mark’s work often deals with diverse people and cultures. By mixing mythologies from numerous cultures and re-presenting them in a hybrid form he seeks to reflect the multicultural world he sees around him. This imaginary world is filled with characters that are at first atypical, but ultimately analogous to the real world. He seeks to present these characters in heroic portraits that act as spirit guides for the viewer.
Mark’s recent paintings have revolved around the term Mythography, which refers to the visual depiction of myths. In this body of work Mark uses bright, bold colors and fluid line work to give a glimpse into an alternate universe to our own, one that is filled with multicultural characters inspired by ancient mythology, modern anthropology, music, fashion and comic books.
Mark’s work has been featured in numerous galleries including Thinkspace, Innerstate Gallery, Gallery 1988, Bottleneck Gallery, Guzu Gallery, and the Red Bull House of Art.
Artist Statement
I like heroes. I grew up reading about them in comic books, later I read about them in greek mythology and later still I read about them in science fiction books. Heroes are often idealized depictions of man, but far too often they are depicted as only white. In my work I seek to use portraiture as a foundation to refute the negative perceptions of BIPOC and present them as heroes.
CV
2023
Playground Detroit - Comm[unity] II
Keep Contemporary - The New Vanguard: Explorations into The New Contemporary V
Elephant Room Gallery - 6th annual 12x12 show
Rosalux Gallery - Open Door 18
BLK WHT GRY Gallery - Print Box Show
2022
Elephant Room Gallery - 5th annual 12x12 show
2019
Seeing Red Group Show - Thinkspace Gallery and Booooooom
2018
TEDx Detroit Labs
2017
Solo Show - Atom Art - Mythography
Solo Show - Conserva - Mythography
Print Release - Innerstate
Group Show - Gallery 1988 - Crazy 4 Cult 11
Group Show - Dirty Show 18
2016
Group Show - Gallery 1988 - Crazy 4 Cult 10
Group Show - Gallery 1988 - Thirty Years Later
Group Show - Guzu Gallery - Strange Beasts 3
Group Show - Innerstate Gallery - Detroiters
Group Show - Scarab Club - The Printer’s Devil
Group Show - Dirty Show 17
2015
Group Show - Gallery 1988 - Crazy 4 Cult 9
Group Show - Guzu Gallery - High Scores
Group Show - Guzu Gallery - Untitled
Group Show - Innerstate Gallery - We Have A Dream
Group Show - Dirty Show 16
2014
Group Show - Guzu Gallery - Children of the 80’s
Group Show - Ltd Art Gallery - Fantasy in the City
2013
Group Show - Bottleneck Gallery
Group Show - Ltd Art Gallery - Saturday Morning
Print - Imago Mundi - Contemporary Artists from the USA
2012
Group Show - 323 East - Apocalypto: An End of an Era
Group Show - Red Bull House of Art
Print Release - 1Xrun
Print - A Fung Mans Fancy - Art Zine
2011
Print - Beautiful Decay
Print - Paper Science
2010
Group Show - 323 East - Flesh, Fur and Fantasy
Live Painting - Microsoft - DEMF
2009
Group Show - Dirty Show 10
Group Show - Lulubell Toys
2008
Group Show - Dirty Show 9
2007
Group Show - Dirty Show 8