Jade van der Mark is emerging as one of the rising figures in the contemporary art scene. Her journey is rich and hybrid, much like her work, oscillating between fashion and painting.
Jade van der Mark: Portraits of Society, Between Art and Fashion
Born in 1990 in Bergen, the Netherlands, Jade van der Mark has created a universe that captures the essence of her pop and artistic era. A graduate of the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, Jade van der Mark first honed her skills in the fashion world before turning to painting, a medium through which she expresses both the vibrancy of urban life and a critique of modern society’s excesses. She likes to define herself as an observer of society: “Culture is very important to me,” she explained in an interview with Icon-Icon.
Before fully devoting herself to painting, Jade van der Mark indeed worked in the fashion industry, notably collaborating with designers Viktor & Rolf. This experience influenced her critical view of the world of luxury and consumption. Through her art, she now explores the tension between the superficial beauty of fashion and the darker realities of urban isolation, overconsumption, and social oppression. Her early textile creations, often unique handmade pieces, were exhibited during Milan Fashion Week in 2016, where she won the prestigious Dutch Fashion Award.
Jade van der Mark’s painting style stands out for its use of vibrant colors and thick, layered painting techniques. Her oil work, applied in thick, textured layers, gives her canvases an almost sculptural quality. Each painting is a long process, often taking several months to complete, allowing her to revisit her compositions and subtly capture the passage of time in her works. This depth makes her work not only visually striking but also emotionally charged. The figures, captured in fleeting moments, reveal the fragility and isolation inherent in modern life.
Her large-format canvases often depict anonymous crowds, human figures crossing paths without truly seeing each other. Her London exhibition, We’re All Human, in 2020, showcased a series of paintings filled with urban scenes where passersby jostle, absorbed in their phones and thoughts, echoing the challenges of human connection in a technology-saturated, pre-pandemic world. A recurring motif in her work is the social distance and isolation within large cities, where despite physical proximity, individuals seem lost in their own worlds.
By using impasto techniques, Jade van der Mark creates portraits that seem to leap from the canvas, as if each character is desperately trying to carve out space in the confined urban environment.
Jade van der Mark’s work has been exhibited at some of the most prestigious contemporary art fairs and galleries. Her works were recently showcased at Art Dubai 2023 and Zona Maco Mexico Art Fair, two major events in the international art calendar. In 2022, her talent was highlighted at the Untitled Art Fair in Miami Beach and by Ronchini Gallery in London for the Empty Spaces exhibition. A profile to watch closely indeed.