Hot Shots : Mark Marchesi
Artist Statement
I have recently wrapped up shooting on a three year project titled The Town and the City. It is inspired by Jack Kerouac's classic literary work which is set in a dying Massachusetts mill town. The novel stuck a chord and filled me with nostalgia for a time when New England mill towns thrived and the word "home" was not just a term used by developers to sell more houese. I am now beginning work on a project titled The Maritimes which explores the seafaring cultures of the North Atlantic and the stoic individuals who depend on commercial fishing for their livelihood. In addition, my series Friends and Strangers is an ongoing exercise in classical large format portrait photography.
Biography
Mark Marchesi was born in 1977 in a suburb of NYC. In 1999 he earned a BFA in photography from Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine. Mark currently resides in South Portland with his wife and two daughters. Mark's images have been exhibited in group shows across the US and abroad. His first solo exhibition was in 2008 at Nelson Hancock Gallery in DUMBO showcasing work from the project The Town and the City. Editions of select images from that project are also available through Gallery Wanted in Paris, France. Mark has been awarded two Maine Arts Commission grants to support his efforts in photography. In 2008 he became a regular contibutor to Port City Life, now Maine Magazine and he is one of 12 artists featured in the locally published book "Portland Through the Lens".