JOHN MARK GLEADOW
[ Biography ]
Born in 1976, John-Mark Gleadow had already achieved gallery representation by the time he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Delaware in 1999. Renowned for his skill as a draftsman and ability for creating hyperrealstic oil paintings, he has gone on to garner various awards, solo shows and grants and has been met with commercial success in the numerous galleries carrying his work from coast to coast in the United States and beyond.
Early influences on the young artist were Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali and VerMeer. “I fell in love with the beauty of their imagery and have always been in awe of their amazing gift for depicting reality, or their version of it. My desire is that my abilities would be used for creating works that are beautiful and that, when viewed as a whole, convince the viewer not only that what they’re seeing is real but that there’s truth in it. For that reason I find strict photorealism a somewhat unsatisfying undertaking.”
Beginning with still lives, John-Mark’s paintings soon came to have portraiture as their backbone. With his mastery of the medium his trademark use of vibrant colors has come to the fore – an element of his work made the more fascinating due to his having to cope with his own colorblindness. His most recent series has fused the centuries old theme of painting book spines with his love of doing figurative work and has allowed him to broaden the thematic horizons of his paintings. “The wonderful thing about working in this vain is how limitless the subject matter can be and how it makes for a logical way of juxtaposing entirely different topics, producing a work of art that’s beautiful as a whole, not just aesthetically, but thematically as well.”
Curriculum Vitae
Born: Lincoln, DE, 1976. EDUCATION: • Bachelor of Fine Arts – Painting University of Delaware, Newark, DE Instructors: Steve Tanis, Larry Holmes, Robert Straight EXHIBITIONS: Solo • 1997 Ventures Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth, DE • 1998 Genesis University of Delaware, Newark, DE • 2002 In the Beginning Delaware Division of the Arts, Wilmington, DE •2008 The Bibliotheques, Modern Villa Gallery, Cannon Beach, OR •2009 John-Mark Gleadow: New Works, Marcus Ashley Gallery, Lake Tahoe, CA Group - Juried • Not Yet Famous Artists Revealed University of Delaware, Newark, DE • Annual Member's Fine Arts Show Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth, DE • Not Yet Famous Artists Revealed University of Delaware, Newark, DE • Annual Members' Fine Arts Show Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth, DE •1997 Annual Members' Exhibition Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington DE • Annual Members' Fine Arts Show Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth, DE • 1999 Salvador Dali: Homage to a Modern Icon Competition Fraser Gallery, Georgetown, Washington, D. C. • 1999 8th Annual Juried Exhibition Art Institute and Gallery, Salisbury, MD • Convergence '99 – Y2K Carnegie Art Center, North Tonawanda, NY • 1999 Allied Artists' 86th Annual Exhibition National Arts Club, New York, NY • 2004 Annual Members' Fine Art Show Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth, DE Group – Invitational • 1997 Delaware Audobon Society Fine Art Show Bellevue State Park, Wilmington, DE • 1997 Lume e Lustre Rehoboth Art League, Rehoboth, DE • 2000 Legends Legends & Lore Gallery, Rehoboth, DE • 2004 Award Winners III Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE • 2004 11th Annual Realism Show Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM • 2005 Heavenly Bodies Light Street Gallery, Baltimore, MD •2008 15th Annual Realism Show Klaudia Marr Gallery, Santa Fe, NM BIBLIOGRAPHY: • Layton, Gregory, The Chronicle , Milford, DE, July 7, 1996 • Constantine, Philip, The Delaware State News , Dover, DE, July 13, 1997 • Mullinax, Gary, The News Journal , Wilmington, DE, December 11, 1998 • Mullinax, Gary, The News Journal , Wilmington, DE, September 24, 1999 • Thomas, Beth, The Messenger , Newark, DE, Vol VIII, Number 4/1999 • Eccel, Josephine, Artline , Wilmington, DE, Vol III, Number 3/2002 • Eccel, Josephine, Artline , Wilmington, DE, Vol V, Number 2/2004 • Guerke, Gwen, The Chronicle , Milford, DE, April 15, 2004 AWARDS/RECOGNITION: • 1997 University of Delaware, “George C. Galoosis Award” • 1997 Rehoboth Art League, “Faucett Okie Award” (Emerging Artist Award) • 2004 Delaware Division of the Arts, "Emerging Artists Grant" • 2004 Rehoboth Art League, “Howard Schroeder Award” (Portrait or Figurative Work) • 2004 Children's Beach House, “Excellence in Painting Award” • 2005 Added to the Delaware Division of the Arts Delaware Artist Roster • 2005 Rehoboth Art League, “Award of Excellence”