Mark Lawson Bell

'I find objects, items cast aside by man or from nature. I don’t find them as such, I see them as being found, as if they were lost, waiting patiently for me to discover. I’m interested in the process of degradation, and the moment when I find an object that’s on the path to being drawn back into the earth. I re-imagine their reality, introducing a sense of the fantastical. Sometimes it’s a solo object, or I create a tableau to tell a tale. More often they are accompanied with the story I imagined, or left naked of words, leaving it to the viewer to put a full stop at the end of their imagination of the piece.'

Exhibitions
Previous
  • Casbar Gallery (solo show)

    London, UK
  • Big Chill Art Trails

    Wiltshire, UK
  • Pringle Of Scotland

    Milan & London
  • Institute Of Contemporary Art

    London, UK
  • 'EARTH - Art of a changing world', The Royal Academy

    London, UK
  • Sketch (various)

    London, UK
2023
  • 'The Great Imagining', with Gavin Turk

    London, UK
  • ‘My Dear Earth’, Hayward Gallery

    London, UK
  • ‘Obscura’, Swanfall Gallery

    St. Pancras, London, UK
  • Guernica 37

    San Francisco, USA
2024
  • ‘About Time’ - People’s choice award, Swanfall Gallery

    London, UK
  • ‘Murmation’, ADL Gallery

    Notting Hill, London, UK
  • ‘The Garden Of Tomorrow’, with Gavin Turk

    Shoreditch, London, UK
  • ‘This Way Comes’ ADL Gallery

    Mayfair, London
  • ‘Dream Time’ (Solo Show) OBX

    Hastings, UK
  • ‘Imagined Reality’, (Solo Show) The Art Of The Senses

    Paris, France
  • ‘Playground’, Swanfall Gallery

    London, UK
  • ‘Jon de Cortina Award Guernica 37 award’

    San Fancisco, USA

A childhood naturalist, Mark spent his formative years in the woods that surrounded the family home in Cornwall. A born collector, his bedroom was a trove of tanks of the living, bottles and jars of the dead and taxidermized roadkill.

At 16, Bell picked up a camera.

At 18 he travelled to London to chase the dream of a photographer. After a few years, with an agent and work published in Blitz and Vogue, he crossed paths to sculpture, making pieces from found objects and fresh metal. He studied at the London College Of Furniture.

His career morphed to become a Creative Director. He went onto found two design agencies, Warm Rain and latterly Mark Lawson Bell Studio, under the moniker of Plinth Creative. Their client lists cited the world’s top brands; from ABSOLUT vodka, Boucheron, Cartier and Veuve Clicquot. They won a D&AD yellow pencil for a Pringle of Scotland interior, and featured in many design books. He was also the Artistic Director of ‘sketch’ in London’s Mayfair for 14 years, by all accounts the most creative collection of restaurants and bars under one roof.

Many clients would tell him ‘Mark you’re an artist’ Having created brand stories for so long, so he is.

Mark lives and works in Hastings, East Sussex, has three left handed daughters and is seen, always, with a leaf in his pocket.

His work can be seen at marklawsonbell.co.uk

'I re-imagine reality'
Mark Lawson Bell