Anarte Gallery

Yellow House

56" x 42"

Andean Highlands

68" x 52"

Downtown

60" x 60"

Rio Chama

50" x 72"

In a Grove

54" x 56"

Dunedin

60" x 60"

Afternoon Light

54" x 72"

Cascade

60" x 56"

Artist's Statement

Mark Nanney b N Carolina In my work I strive to communicate on several levels. There is the subject or theme. Also, there is the evocation of mood and memory, of association. Above all, I try to encourage the realization that the painting is not a "picture", but a thing in itself. The difficulty of this objective offers a challenge that keeps the process interesting.

Experiencing art should take us out of ourselves, to see the world in a different way, even if only for a moment.Ý In attempting to get this response, I paint by emphasizing the synthesis of the different parts of the painted surface, whether it be line, shape, tone, texture, or most particularly, color.Ý This act is entirely personal and may be at the considerable expense of being "true" to the subject, at least in a photographic sense.Ý Working at bringing these things together into some sort of harmony, while at the same time, keeping a chosen subject, idea or memory in mind is a most satisfying challenge.Ý A challenge for the viewer would be to see that this subjective ordering of elements within the painting may tap into another interpretation of reality.

Artist Mark NanneyÝ spent his school years through university in Florida, where his family moved in 1961.Ý Torn between the visual arts and natural science, he thought it prudent to study a science and so majored in one of the more elusive sciences, meteorology.Ý A position as forecaster with the National Weather Service brought him to San Antonio, Texas in 1978, and he has lived in this area ever since.Ý Always painting when time allowed, he finally decided to devote most of his time to painting in 1989.Ý He has studied with San Antonio area artists Finis Collins, Carl Embrey, and Phil Simpson, but his is overwhelmingly self-taught.

Nanney has used graphite, charcoal, watercolor, oil, and acrylic media.Ý His work for many years has been a rather precise, orderly color-field realism, no-doubt influenced by the sensibility one acquires when working in the rational mode employed by the natural sciences.Ý After extensive study of such personal artistic heroes as De Kooning, Diebenkorn, Wolf Kahn, and especially Fairfield Porter, who in his best paintings successfully married color-field realism with abstract expressionist paint-handling, Mark's work has acquired a broader, more expressionist look.Ý This includes an especially strong emphasisis on the emotional impact of color.

He has exhibited in galleries in San Antonio, Texas, among them Nueva Street Gallery, Parchman-Stremmel Gallery, San Antonio Art League, Joan Grona Gallery, and Anarte.Ý Also he has shown in Rockport, Texas at the Estelle Stair Gallery and the Rockport Center for the Arts.Ý Outside of the state he has shown in Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico at Alexandra Stevens Galleries.ÝÝ His work is in many private and public collections in the United States including the Malcolm Forbes Collection in Taos, New Mexico, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and First Capital Bank headquarters in Corpus Christi, Texas.He is currently showing his latest, most expressionistic works, including interiors, landscapes, figures, and abstractions at the Anarte Gallery.

About Mark Nanney

Studied with:
• Finis Collins, San Antonio, Texas
• Carl Embrey, San Antonio, Texas
• Phil Simpson, San Antonio, Texas

Past Gallery Affiliation and Shows:
• Nueva Street Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
• Estelle Stair Gallery, Rockport, Texas
• San Antonio Art League, , San Antonio, Texas
• Alexandra Stevens Galleries, Santa Fe & Taos, New Mexico
• Rockport Center for the Arts, Artist of the Year, 2002
• Joan Grona Gallery, San Antonio, Texas

Currently Showing:
• Anarte Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
• At the Studio, Welfare, Texas (by appointment)

Selected Installations & Collections;
• First Capital Bank, Victoria, Texas
• Mrs. Jackie Shaw, Rockport, Texas
• William & Susan O'Bryan, Rockport, Texas
• The Malcolm Forbes Collection, Taos, New Mexico
• Mr. and Mrs. Murray Tarkington, Rockport, Texas
• Collection of the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas

Education:
• B.S., M.S. Meterology, Florida State University