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Vale artist and academic Mark Webb [1957-2022]

 

 

 

Mark will be sadly missed and fondly remembered by so many. Our condolences to Mark’s family, friends and colleagues.

 

Mark made a terrific and enduring impact on contemporary art making and independent artist-run activity in SEQ since 1984. I first met Mark at the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane Meeanjin ( then located at 106 Edward Street) in October 1984 at a meeting I co- convened with the IMA director and conceptual artist Peter Cripps. The aim was to start new artist-run space. Mark was a fervent supporter from the very outset.

 

Mark’s first solo exhibition was staged at That Space in 1985. A formidable Xerox art installation. He employed layers and layers of white paint on the walls to transmogrify the modest artist-run space into a quasi-institutional white cube space. Inside this space Mark installed a museum-scale photo copy work of a paint brush – by way of a nod to artist Robert MacPherson’s artistic practice . It was a form of Mark’s priceless humour-imbued institutional critique. We began a mail art exchange about That Space and Mark’s own performative initiative ‘This Space’ [1986]. Mark’s contribution to Queensland/Australian artist-run culture and heritage and institutional critique can not be overstated.

 

Thank you Mark for so much inspiration and for so many foundational conversations and experiences as conceptual art was being transformed by the playful technologies afforded us by the humble Xerox machine in the 1980s. Artists’ ephemera made by so many during this vibrant time in Brisbane was often considered art work in it’s own right. Mark you are long remembered, loved and cherished! xxx Paul Andrew.

 

Thank you dear readers. Please add any of your own stories and memories about artist Mark Webb in the comments thread below. I will go through the personal archives and locate some related ephemera and make a memory post to help memorialize and celebrate Mark in coming weeks. [Images: Official Art, Mark Webb solo exhibition 1985, A Monochrome Set, 1986 This Space artists’ ephemera, 1996]

Mark Webb Detail | https://allconference.org.au/content/1-library/24-demolition-show/demolition-show.pdf

 

Artists Mark Webb and Eugene Carchesio in conversation. A Monochrome Set curated by artists Diena Georgetti and Belinda Gunn. That Space 1986

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