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I
RISH
& I
NTERNATIONAL
A
RT
A
UCTION
M
ONDAY
10
TH
A
PRIL
2017
AT
6.00
PM
47
52 Mark Francis (b.1962) VENTRAL (2003)signed & dated on reverse
oil on canvas
86.5 x 102cm (34 x 40in)
3URYHQDQFH
Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Private Collection
€10,000-15,000 (£8,695-13,043)
Mark Francis was born in Northern Ireland in 1962 and studied painting at St. Martin’s School of Art (1980-85) before going
on to the Chelsea School of Art where he completed his Master of Arts in painting in 1986. Francis has exhibited internationally
both individually and in group exhibitions. His work has had a strong association with science. Throughout his career his abstract
paintings have continually been informed by the shapes, patterns and visual qualities found by his personal interest in mycol-
ogy. It is through this abstract language that Francis initiated his platform in the early 1990s to become one of the UK’s leading
contemporary painters and maintains to be at the forefront of critical evaluation within art. Francis is often characterised by his
wet-on-wet painting technique (a technique also used by Gerhard Richter in the 1960s) and his continuous use of grid formations
that are present within his paintings. Francis’ work is collected by numerous institutions and organisations that include the Irish
Museum of Modern Art, the Tate and is represented by Kerlin Gallery.