Blue Like Ash or Smoke – Mark Bletcher

Mark Bletcher (b.1995, UK) lives and works in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

His work explores themes of subjectivity, narrative, and modern magical realism.

He received his BA in Fine art from Newcastle University (2019) and has been recognised for his achievements in painting, drawing and printmaking. Bletcher was a recipient of the
Gwen May award from Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (2020) and shortlisted for both the Woon Art Prize (2019) and the Young Contemporary Artist Award (2020). He is a recent recipient of the Elizibeth Green Sheilds
Award (2023-4) for his work in representational painting. Mark Bletcher is a co-founder and director of MinutesOn, a project that builds community through conversations with artists.

Please contact the artist for more information.

Blue Like Ash or Smoke is a small showcase of a wider series of work by Mark Bletcher.

The exhibition is an exploration of the role of myth in shaping our identity.

Inspired by a contemporary engagement with historical
fragmented texts, including popular examples like the Iliad, the artist invites us to wonder what might be lost, obscured, or transformed by our limited understating of the past, and how these stories can be retold.

Mark Bletcher regularly teaches drawing, painting and print at
The Arts Centre.