Mark Giaimo, a former political cartoonist and recording artist, Mark Giaimo enrolled in his first oil painting class in 2004. Within two years he was accepted into the Post-Baccalaureate Graduate Program at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where he completed a semester before striking out on his own. He has had two solo exhibitions at Calloway Fine Arts & Consultants, and his oil paintings have been exhibited in numerous group shows in NYC and the greater DC area. He also teaches various drawing and painting classes at Yellow Barn Studios at Glen Echo.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My paintings mix the mundane with the sacred, kitsch with classical realism that is both an homage and satire of the past and present. Employing 19th century painting techniques with contemporary pulp and graphic illustration, I create personal narratives from dichotomies, both compositional and experiential, posing questions on the value and meaning of humanist art and its role in contemporary society.
I am presently working on a new series of paintings of everyday, mundane objects – mostly shoes – which I feel often tell a richer story of a life lived than the standard portrait or biography.
