Contact the artist at:
PH: (+61)405080472
For sales inquiries, direct message me via my instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/fabric_layerism/
Also purchase art work online at Bluethumb: https://bluethumb.com.au/Mark-Ewenson
Also: Studio visits / sales by appointment, Melbourne…Works for sale or sold as indicated.
* Mark Ewenson acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which he lives and works, and pays respect to all elders past present and emerging. *
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Mark Ewenson; Bio in brief 2025
Stemming from a creative life as both musician and visual artist in the 1980’s, Mark has specialized in mixed media painting, drawing and collage since the 1990’s.
From 2011, Mark has created a unique convergence of collage and textile art which he has named Fabric Layerism; a rich aesthetic of fabrics, adhesives, drawing, and photography.
Focusing on the beauty of diverse feminine forms, this art embraces influences from the ancient & classical to the contemporary of this enduring and evolving theme.
Since 1991, Mark has exhibited in 21 solo and over 50 group exhibitions.
Auto Biography
“Born in Melbourne 1964 with a family background and some training in both visual art and music, by my teens I was proficient in drawing, piano, guitar, and the drums. At 18 I began an art degree in fine art painting at Prahran Technical College, Melbourne, but at the same time my passion for music took over, so I left the art course and became involved in the inner Melbourne music scene for the next 7 years, specialising in drums with several bands, later with guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals, and soundscape composition, Though through this period I kept up with some art, mainly portrait drawing….
Returning to visual art full time from 1991 onwards, I lived and worked in Venus Bay, Gippsland , Victoria during the 1990’s with my partner and young children, concentrating on painting with the inspiration of that natural environment. Meeting many artists living in that area, one in particular became an important mentor and friend, the prominent Australian artist and environmentalist Neil Douglas….
This was a very busy period with many solo and group exhibitions in Melbourne and Gippsland, during which I also completed some music recording projects begun in the 1980’s….
Living and working in Melbourne since 2002, I have mainly focused on the development of mixed media painting and collage, specialising in layered textiles with various painting and drawing media which I have called Fabric Layerism…With my main ongoing subject of the feminine form and its interaction with interiors and nature drawing has become integral with this, with a similar layered mixed mediums approach…
Since 2011, this ‘Fabric Layerism’ has developed further into a distinctive niche, with many works containing no paint…In 2015 I had a multi media exhibition at the Breslin Gallery, Melbourne, hosted by renowned Australian artist Anthony Breslin, releasing both a retrospective disc of my visual art to date ‘The Art Of Mark Ewenson ~ 1981-2014’ along with a CD of my original solo music compositions from the 80’s/’90’s: ‘14 Soundscapes’…While the Soundscapes played, a digital slide projection played the retrospective art disc on one wall, while on the other walls of the gallery hung a show of recent mixed media and Fabric Layerism works…
Between 2019-2025 I have mounted several solo exhibitions in Melbourne showcasing and establishing Fabric Layerism, as well as with a number of group shows, this art form making a new and ongoing connection with the contemporary textile and fibre arts community.”
Mark Ewenson
Artist’s statement ‘25
“I love visual art and music of depth and beauty from ancient to classical, to modern and contemporary in both fields, and my visual art is a little more profoundly influenced by music than by visual art…
I love both representational and abstract painting, sculpture and installation, and I’m passionate about the development of mixed media collage in painting and drawing. Painting is one of humankind’s earliest inventions, so to be a painter/2D artist in the 21st Century is to be part of an extraordinarily long lineage. For me, the ancient and modern exist simultaneously.
In this current era of contemporary art there is an explosion of so much development with so much pluralism and diversity happening all at once, it can be a little overwhelming trying to get an overview of it. Kind of the opposite of the traditional ‘art movements’ of previous centuries, which have been so important in the development of Western Art, the 21st Century seems to be a very wide range of parallel expressions and aesthetics. Artists, like myself, choose and find individual niches to work on and become immersed in creating their own aesthetic universes, taking influences from many artists in their own communities, past and present, as well as the innumerable artists online; a window to a vast world wide digital arts community.
It seems that the gallery culture, both culturally and commercially, are trying to come to grips with this new contemporary art movement, as there is a convergence of ideas and cultures in the arts which is unprecedented.
A major aspect is that the art world and art market are increasingly at odds with each other; both areas are corrupted by hyper saturation. But the central meaning is the new expansion of artistic expression, narrative and content, even if there is only room for a small percent of it in the art market.
I, like many both emerging and established visual artists in this time, often feel the need to be, at least to some degree, independent of the art establishment by sheer necessity of keeping to one’s own vision, even when engaging with gallery and art world culture…..
Over 40 years ago, I was taught that painting was dead, and beauty as a concept was questionable..
40 years on, it is evident to me and many other visual artists that painting is still developing and beauty is still a noble quest”.
Mark Ewenson 10/2025
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Below: Mark Ewenson 2014
Curriculum Vitae
- D O B: 7/9/1964
- Education: 1981-82 Art & design, Huntingdale Technical college, Melbourne
- 1983 Studied fine art painting at Prahran technical college, Melbourne
- 1984-1990 MUSIC ; Full time musician; percussionist/multi instrumentalist in various art rock, jazz, experimental groups and soundscape recording artist, Melbourne…(see music C.V)
- SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- 1991 Bakers Cafe Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne
- 1994 Joan Gough Studio Gallery- Contemporary Art Australia
- 1996 Darebin Arts Centre, Preston -Melbourne
- 1997 Darebin Arts Centre, Pretston- Melbourne
- 1998 Hotel Sofitel, Cafe La, Collins St. Melbourne. (work purchased by Sofitel)
- 1999 Fitzroy Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne
- 1999 Rippleside Gallery, Inverloch,Victoria
- 2000 Silkstone Gallery, Korumburra,Victoria
- 2001-02 Tsunami Cafe, Inverloch,Victoria
- 2003 Muse Bar Gallery, East St.Kilda,Melbourne
- 2004 Studio Gallery exhibition, Elwood, Melbourne
- 2006 Online Gallery launch: markewenson.com
- 2006 Gallery 112, St.Kilda, Melbourne; ‘The Yasmin Series’
- 2009 Online Gallery launch: markewenson-artist.com
- 2011 Andrianakis- Fitzroy Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne
- 2015 The Breslin Gallery, Carnegie, Melbourne…Art/Music retrospective; Art ebook retrospective disc,1981-2014…’14 Soundscapes’ music CD,1986-1999
- 2018 Launch of new WordPress website for markewenson-artist.com: Fabric Layerism – Fabric and Mixed Media Visions of the Feminine Form
- 2019 4Diverse Gallery, St Kilda: Fabric Layerism; An Original Collage Invention…exhibition of 37 works 2011-2019
- 2020 Kinch Cafe, Caulfield / Fabric Layerism, 12 works
- 2021 Gasworks Arts Park, Melbourne; ‘Fabric Layerism & The Feminine Form’ collage series, with online art/music & audio narration presentation on Smartify online gallery platform
- 2023 Burrinja Cultural Centre, Melbourne: Fabric Layerism; A Unique Way Of Collage
- 2024 Neighbours Cafe, St.Kilda, Melbourne: Fabric Layerism Works; 2019-2023
- 2024 Midnight In Paris Gallery, Melbourne: Fabric Layerism; Curvaceous
- 2025 Artemisia Gallery, Windsor, Melbourne: Fabric Layerism; Sequences
- GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 1991-93 Exhibited in several group shows around Gippsland,Victoria: Meeniyan, Phillip Island, Fish Creek
- 1993/94 Tarwin Lower Art Exhibition – First Prize, best local painting award, landscape work ‘Venus Bush’ oil on canvas/1993)
- 1993 Majoring in group show with Neil Douglas, John Quinn, Venus Bay Gallery,Venus Bay,Victoria
- 1993 Mentorship/article with Australian landscape artist Neil Douglas
- 1995 Finalist- Herald/Sun art prize, Melbourne- judges: Leo Schofield, Sally Smart, Alex Holt, Simon Plant
- 1995-96 Gretz Gallery, Albert Park-Melbourne
- 1995-97 Contemporary Art Australia travelling group show to Paris France and Puge Rostang, South of France
- 1998-99 Represented by Dempsters Gallery, Canterbury, Melbourne
- 1999 Venus Bay artists showcase,Venus Bay,Victoria
- 1998 Jackman Gallery – group exhibition in conjunction with website launch for ‘Artists Online’; one of Australia’s first commercial online galleries
- 1998-2001 ‘Artists Online’ website gallery – Jackman Gallery, St.Kilda, Melbourne
- 2000 ‘New Energies’ – Artists showcase – Leongatha,Victoria.
- 2001 ‘New Energies’ Gippsland artists – Chapel off Chapel,Prahran,Melbourne
- 2000-/01 Dunes Gallery, Inverloch, Victoria
- 2004 ‘Spirit of place’ – Gallery 112, St.Kilda, Melbourne
- 2005 Affordable Art fair with Gallery 112 – Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne.
- 2006-08 Gallery 112- St.Kilda, Melbourne
- 2009-14 Louey & Lane gallery, Glen Huntly – Melbourne
- 2009 20th Anniversary, Life Models Society- Dantes Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne
- 2009 Lord Ivy Lounge- Flinders Lane, Melbourne
- 2011 ‘Beauty’ Collingwood Gallery, Collingwood, Melbourne
- 2011 Carbon Black gallery- Prahran- Melbourne
- 2012 Princes Hill Community Centre,Princes Hill, Melbourne
- 2013 ‘Freedom’ Collingwood Gallery, Collingwood, Melbourne
- 2013 ‘Eclectica’ Breslin Gallery, Carnegie, Melbourne
- 2013-18 Nexus Modern Art- Online Gallery, Melbourne- ‘Emerging Artists’
- 2018 People’s Choice Award for Fabric Layerism work in Glen Eira Artists Society annual group exhibition, Caulfield Arts Complex, Melbourne
- 2018-19 Bluethumb Online Gallery….’Featured Artist’ & ‘Curators pick’: interior design/feminine shapes
- 2019 Glen Eira Artists Society annual exhibition, ‘Time’ at Caulfield Arts Complex, Melbourne
- 2019/20 Toot Gallery, St Kilda, Melbourne
- 2019/20 Gallery 264, Glen Huntly, Melbourne
- 2021 Glen Eira Artists Society annual exhibition, ‘Water’ at Caulfield Arts Complex
- 2022 Glen Eira Artists Society annual exhibition, ‘Light’ at Caulfield Arts Complex
- 2022 The Fitzroy Art Collective ‘The Artist & The Muse drawing show’
- 2022 The Fitzroy Art Collective ‘FAC 3rd birthday event exhibition’
- 2022 Artful Yoga gallery, Stkilda, ‘In Good Company’ produced by Roberto Chuter, curated by Anthony Breslin
- 2022 The Fitzroy Art Collective, ‘Super Fun Time Crazy Pop Up Art Show’
- 2023 Bayside Local’ curated by Joanna Bosse / Bayside Gallery, Brighton, Melbourne
- 2023 Glen Eira Artists Society annual exhibition, ‘Colour’ at Caulfield Arts Complex
- 2023 Naarm Textile Collective, ‘Uncommon Threads’, Fortyfivedownstairs Gallery, as part of the Craft Contemporary ’23 Festival, Melbourne
- April 2024 Textile Palette Exhibition, Clunes, Vic. ‘Distortion; The Evolution Of Body Enhancement’
- July 2024 Glen Eira Artist’s Society; Annual exhibition, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Caulfield, Melbourne.
- Nov 2024 Midnight In Paris Gallery, Prahran, Melbourne: Group Exhibition
- Dec 2024-2/25 Burrinja Cultural Centre, Upwey, Melbourne: ‘Window Into Aerie’
- March/April 2025 Naarm Textile Collective; ‘Threads-Tangles/Detangles’, Glen Eira Council Gallery, Caulfield, Melbourne.
- March 2025 Artemisia Gallery, Windsor, Melbourne; ‘From The Studio’
- July 2025 Artemisia Gallery, Windsor, Melbourne; ‘Fruits Of The Loom’
- July/Aug 2025 Glen Eira Artist’s Society, Annual Exhibition, Glen Eira Council Gallery, Caulfield / received Founders Award in recognition of innovation in textile/collage art with a Fabric Layerism work selected for prize.
- Sep 2025 Artemisia Gallery, Windsor, Melbourne: ‘Smut’ ; erotic art exhibition
- Oct 2025 Naarm Textile Collective; ‘ Social Fabric’ Forty Five Downstairs Gallery, Flinders Lane, Melbourne
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Nov 1993 Sentinel Times-South Gippsland
- Jan 1994 The Star-South Gippsland
- July 1994 National Gallery Society magazine-Melbourne
- July 1994 Radio interview with Bill Hartley, 3CR- ‘Art Attack’
- Spring 1994 Art and Australia magazine
- May 1996 Sentinel Times-South Gippsland
- March 1997 Sentinel Times-South Gippsland
- June 1997 Preston Post Times-Melbourne
- Feb 1998 At the Sofitel-Melbourne
- 1998-2001 ‘Artists On Line’ Melbourne’s first online gallery platform (Jackman Gallery)
- Feb 1999 Herald-Sun, Melbourne
- March 2000 Village Crier-Korumburra,Gippsland
- June 2000 New Energies-artists showcase,Leongatha,Gippsland
- June 2000 The Star-South Gippsland,Victoria
- March 2001 Sentinel Times-South Gippsland
- March 2003 Port Phillip Leader-Melbourne
- Nov 2006 Port Phillip Leader-Melbourne
- Nov 2006 Art Almanac – Australia
- Oct 2011 Port Phillip/Glen Eira Leader-Melbourne
- 2013 – ‘The Art and The Curious’; online art blog interview with Celeste Hawkins http://www.theartandthecurious.com.au/layer-upon-layerthe-art-of-mark-ewenson/
- 2013 Port Phillip Leader-Melbourne
- 2015 The Breslin Gallery-online newsletter
- 2019 Video Interview by P Justin Butler: ‘Fabric Layerism; the art of Mark Ewenson – on Vimeo
- 2019 Fabric Layerism video with Mark Ewenson Soundscapes music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNiM4RzHmyI&t=159s&ab_channel=MarkEwenson
- 2019 Art Almanac
- 2020/21 Art Edit Magazine – feature: magazine and online
- 2021 Audio/visual exhibition with Smartify ~ online world wide art museum platform (with Gasworks Arts Park exhibition 1-2/2021)
- 2021/22 Interview ‘Fabric Layerism’ with Jayden Byrne for his Youtube Channel ‘The Creators Process’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAhJZFVMeHo&t=941s&ab_channel=TheCreatorsProcess
- 2022/23 Burrinja Cultural Centre, Melbourne; Aerie artists Ecology https://aerie.burrinja.org.au/aerie-artists/
- 2024 Radio 3MBS, Melbourne, ‘Arts Weekly’ live interview with Mal Chambers discussing Fabric Layerism; Curvaceous exhibition, Prahran, Melbourne
- COLLECTIONS
- PRIVATE- Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Gippsland, London,USA.
- PUBLIC- SOFITEL Art Collection, Australia
Writings & Quotes
Fabric Layerism ~ Mark Ewenson 