Bio

“Mark Berland is a dynamic artist, musician, singer, poet, healer, and clairvoyant. He has sat with many American Indian medicine men, has studied Asian medicine with masters from China and Japan, has met with Indian Gurus, and has developed a sense of humor and compassion to help aid individuals in the evolution of their real authentic self.”

At age 4 he could be found drawing exclusively angels and birds which sadly made his loving mother a bit nervous. Admittedly, she thought, “my son is different.” From age 5 to 15 he loved using pastels and was surprisingly adept as an abstract expressionist. He met his first real art teacher, Mr. Robbi Semple, at age 16. Mr. Semple befriended many well known artists in New York City from the 1950’s into the 1980’s. He encouraged Mr. Berland to stay on course and gently pushed the creative envelope to reach for more. He thought of Mr. Berland as, “A Man on a Mission.”

Mark Berland started to play the guitar at age 13 and joined the proverbial folk and rock bands of the day but, there too, he found himself guided by an inner voice during both wakened and dream states that instilled in him the belief that the best teacher resides within. He then started playing a music formerly unknown to himself. He could play the guitar in hundreds of alternate tunings and hear whole compositions. Often the guitar sounded more like a sitar, an oud, a harp, or an symphony and his friends would say, “you must have lived many past lives,” to which he would respond, “nope, New York City.”

For a short while he attended the New England Conservatory with the intention to become a classical composer, however unexpected tragedy struck his family and he had to devote his time and energy elsewhere.

For the next few decades he continued his art studies at the Cambridge Center Studio School. Some of his teachers were as follows; Painting with Phil Press who had studied at the Art Student League in New York City, Painting and Portraits with Barbara Baum who was educated at Boston University, Drawing with Martin Muger who studied with Josef Albers at Yale, Drawing with Charles Feininger whose grandfather was a renown artist in his day, Abstract Painting with Susan Miller, and others as well as the Japanese painter Kaiji Aso.

Having lived in a somewhat self-imposed isolation much like a monk, Mark Berland is now integrating into the world sharing his art and music believing that in this time period it is vitally important to share positivity on all levels of society, whether it be political or spiritual, cultivating the higher purpose of the human being and elevating the human spirit.

Mark Berland had Art Exhibits in the recent past at the Cambridge Art Center and in New York City at Vander Plas Art Gallery.

He is also putting out a dynamic collection of songs soon to be found online and at www.Markberlandartandmusic.com

Expect to see much more of his ingenuity and outpouring of creativity and as his mentor Robbi Semple said he is, “A Man on a Mission.”

Artist’s Statement

Whether it be with childlike innocence and fertile imagination or through pure intuition I love to make the canvas dance and come alive. With a strong sense of color, geometry, and an innate inner purpose that drives me, I often find myself in a trance-like, channeled state that guides me. Similar to a dream that must be remembered, this unveiled inspiration puts magic into creating both past and present life scenarios. Rendered in oil paint, acrylics, mixed media, charcoal, or pen and ink I find the necessity and courage to be honest and real.

Abstract Expressionism Video

Gallery

Details

Selections

Lady with a White Orchid

I remember this model loved to read the science fiction of Ray Bradbury. It seemed to give her the stamina and the poise to sit for the length of the session. This painting was first drawn in charcoal and then built up with acrylic and additive mediums. After the drying process oil paint alone was applied then oil paint with mixed galkyd which changes the viscosity and surface shine. The mixture of bright colors reflects the angle of the lights and the dark receding colors to give the depth of her soul a breathless moment. One could physically feel the volume of her substance.

Bicycle Repair

This was born in a time period where I had a recurring dream of thirty paintings of large size. Knowing that my small abode made it impossible to bring these paintings into fruition, I told myself I have to create at least one. The images of squiggly lines and circles had already been in my head the night before, so as I did this on a very large plaster board, letting the paint guide my structural analysis, I concretely decided that I was representing a parallel universe, where a symbolic bicycle could journey simultaneously to several different places at one single time, and yet arrive on time.

Freud

I remember doing this portrait and after looking at his actual coloring, I thought to myself, there is a deeper darkness of color within his emotional being and I’d rather catch that than what is obvious. After sketching out his skeletal bones and the muscles of his face I decided to feature an inner shadow, much like a mask, and only give hints of flesh tonality at random places, which was quite the opposite of what most people would render. Upon seeing this, artist Barbara Baum gasped at it’s bleakness. I revealed to her that this is how I see the inner part of of his character. Later on, I found out, that this brave man was truly sick and barely alive, stricken with the flu.

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