Mark hosford

Mark Hosford was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1974 and grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, Kansas. He moved to Lawrence, Kansas in 1993 to pursue a BFA in Studio Arts at the University of Kansas with a concentration in printmaking. He received his MFA in 2001 from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. That same year, Hosford accepted a teaching position at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Art and Chair of the Department of Art. Hosford has a national and international exhibition record, including exhibitions in Poland, Germany, South Korea, China, New York, Boston, and California. His work is included in numerous public and private collections. Specializing in drawing, printmaking, and animation, Hosford’s work draws from a fascination with counter-culture imagery, spiritualism, curiosities, obsolete technology, stream of consciousness, and personal narratives. 

STATEMENT - Spot Color Press Project

Starting at an early age, I have been fascinated with printed ephemera, from comic books, posters, t-shirts. As far back as I can remember, I have been obsessed with these jewels of printed words and images.

Ephemera exists in a limbo world, encompassing printmaking, history, art, design, and commerce. Printmaking, perhaps more than most disciplines, seems to flow freely between all of these categories. Whether you are printing a t-shirt, a political poster, a “fine art” serigraph, or cardboard boxes for beer, the process stays the same. It is just the context that changes how we perceive these printed information.

In a pre-digital era, artists and printmakers often worked using a spot color process, allowing them to have exact control of every instance of every color. Each color is unique and mixed by hand, to get just the right tone and saturation. This is in contrast to a modern 4-color process system, where a computer is used to create halftones in order to simulate a broad range of colors using a lonely four standard colors. The 4-color process streamlined the printing process, but density, color range, and the uniqueness of mixing color be hand were sacrificed. I have learned to appreciate the playful sensibilities of graphics that were created in a previously analog only world.

This is what led me towards my latest body of prints, which I call the Spot Color Press project. For this body of work I am looking at objects that I find intriguing or beautiful, and whose images might have an interesting metaphoric message, especially when the original commercial intent is unknown. My prints in this series are printed on larger sheets of paper, in order to give them a certain monumentality. At this scale, the text and image seem to take on greater importance.

Much like how art students learn to draw by copying “old master” drawings from DaVinci and Michelangelo, I aim to channel and learn from these unsung heroes of print and design by breaking down and recreating their work. I have no interest in merely photographing these objects and printing them on an inkjet printer. I go through the process as they would have, drawing the images, figuring out the layering, hand mixing all the colors, pulling the squeegee, or cranking them though the press.

On some prints, I allow the product origins to be more visible, while others have become purposefully obscure. I enjoy hunting for objects and having chance encounters at a thrift store or antique mall. Each print becomes a discovery and a chance to retell the story of an image almost lost in time.

RESUME

Education
2001 MFA, Printmaking, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
1998 BFA, Printmaking, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Honors and Awards

2018 Jurors Award, 2018 Screenprint Biennial, Opalka Gallery, Albany, NY

2009 Graphic Chemical Purchase Award, The Boston Printmakers 2009 North American Print Biennial, 808 Gallery at Boston University, Boston, MA

2007 Dr. Lowell and Claudia Steel Purchase Award, Janet Turner 7th National Print Competition & Exhibition 2008, Turner Print Museum, California State University, Chico, CA

2006 Juror’s Award, The Printed Image: the First Biennial Midwestern Graphics Juried Exhibition, Alice C. Sabatini Gallery, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka, KS

2005 Juror’s Commendation, The Boston Printmakers 2005 North American Print Biennial, 808 Gallery at Boston University, Boston, MA

2004 Juror’s Award Winner, 2004 Southern Printmaking Biennale, North Georgia College and State University, Hoag Gallery, Dahlonega, GA

2004 Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum Purchase Award, 2004 Minnesota National Print Biennial, Minneapolis, MN

2001 First Place Award, Combined Talents: The 17th Annual Florida National, Florida State University, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL

2001 Purchase Award, 15th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper Exhibition, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA

Selected Exhibitions (* indicates solo and two person exhibitions)

2019 SGCI 2019-2021 Member’s Traveling Exhibition, The Gallery at UTA, University of Texas, Arlington, TX

2019 A 39 Year Retrospective, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2018 The Contemporary Print, 2018, O2 Gallery/PRINTAUSTIN, Austin, TX

2018 Screenprint Biennial, Opalka Gallery, Albany, NY

ANIMALIS, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH

Affectionate Indifference. A Cat-emporary Exhibition, Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, KS

2017 * Campfire Stories, LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, LA

37th Annual National Print Exhibition, Artlink Contemporary Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN

SideBySide: Warhol, Yoga and the Body, Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN

2016 * Mark Hosford & Erik Mark Sandberg, CG2 Gallery, Nashville, TN

Screenprint Biennial 2016, Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY (exhibition catalogue)

Print Work 2016, Artists Image Resource, Pittsburgh, PA

Nashville Infusion, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, New Harmony, IN

Anthology: Visual Narratives from Nashville’s Print Community, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN

Press Play, Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, CO

2015 * Interdimensional, Antenna Gallery, New Orleans, LA

Cute and Creepy, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX

(ouroboros), LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, LA

The Contemporary Print, Big Medium Gallery, Austin, TX (exhibition catalogue)

2014 * The Stuff of Dreams, Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery, SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, NY

East Coast National Screenprint Biennial, Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY

7th Bulgarian International Triennial of Graphic Arts, Bulgarian Union of Artists, Sofia, Bulgaria

Printwork 2014, Artists Image Resource, Pittsburgh, PA

Whodunit?, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2013 Unique Visions, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

Printwork 2013, Artists Image Resource, Pittsburgh, PA

MilwauKEY, Imagination Giants, Milwaukee, WI

2013 North American Print & Drawing Exhibition, Arts Visalia Visual Art Center, Visalia, CA

Troublesome Houses, Art Inspired by Will Oldham, Louisville Visual Art Association, Louisville, KY

Failure, Kresge Gallery, Lyon College, Batesville, AR

2012 2012-2015 SGCI Traveling Exhibition, Collins C. Dibol Art Gallery, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA

* Subtle Imperfections, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC

* Drips, Drops, and Inkblots, Taylor Bercier Fine Art, New Orleans, LA

* Drips, Drops, and Inkblots, Clough-Hanson Gallery, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN

Fairy Tales, Monsters, and the Genetic Imagination, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN

Metamorphoses, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN

Fabled Fixations, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN

2011 * Sasnak, Beep Beep Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Cute and Creepy, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL

Atlanta Print Biennial, Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Drawing Discourse; 2nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing, S. Tucker Cooke Gallery, University of North Carolina Asheville, Asheville, NC

Drawing 2011, Front Gallery, Chattanooga, TN

2010 * (Un)Conscious Reasoning, Greiner Art Gallery, Hanover College, Hanover, IN

Marais Press: Conjuguer etudes et editions d’artistes, APRIM, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Peer 2 Peer / Cheek 2 Cheek, DC Cherry Blast, National Cherry Blossom Festival, Washington, D.C.; DC Digital Capital Week: 10 days of Creative Technology, Blagden Alley, Washington, D.C.

Drawing On, Tuska Center for Contemporary Art, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Print Summit: A survey of Contemporary Printmaking, Wellington B. Gray Gallery, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC

2009 * Ghost Stories, Taylor Bercier Fine Art, New Orleans, LA

* The Way of Things, Shircliff Gallery of Art, Vincennes University, Vincennes, IN

The Exhibition of The Stream of International Prints, Anyang Albaroshija Hall, Anyang, South Korea

2nd China Sanbao International Printmaking Exhibition, Jingdezhen Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China; Shanxi University College of Fine Art, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China; and the Beijing Center Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China; New Suzhou Museum, Suzhou

Fantastical Imaginings, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD

Outlaws and Wild Animals, Rebus Works, Raleigh, NC

Our Stories, John David Mooney Foundation, Chicago, IL

2008 * Ghost Stories, Space 204, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Unseen and Undead, The 621 Gallery Inc., Tallahassee, FL

Evil Prints, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO

Cold Blooded, Warm Hearted, First Amendment Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

Fantastical Imaginings, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

2007 * Silhouettes, Upper Gallery, University of Dallas, Irving, TX

Collections

Rare Books Collection, Duke University, Durham, NC

Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute University, Jingdezhen, China

May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, NYC

The Estonian National Museum of Art in Tallinn, Estonia

Art Museum at West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN

McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA

Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA

Academy of Fine Arts, Poznan, Poland

Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS

Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

Buck Ewing Gallery, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

Amity Art Foundation, Woodbridge, CT

Wichita Falls Museum of Art, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TX

UNI Gallery of Art, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA

Southern Graphics Council Archive, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS

Monmouth University, Long Branch, NJ

Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, TN

Graphic Chemical Fine Art Collection, Villa Park, IL

Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA

Southern Illinois University Printmaking Area, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL

Research Grants Received

2009 Individual Artist Fellowship Grant, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN

Artist in Residence, Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium

Three-week residency. Housing funded by the Flemish government.