Remembering Mark Pawson
Published on:A tribute to Mark from Magda Archer
We were very saddened to hear of the recent death of artist Mark Pawson. Mark took part in our 2024 exhibition '#Notquitedisney', curated by Magda Archer. We hadn't come across Mark's work before, and really enjoyed the repeated pattern he created using a hand-made rubber stamp. See 'Space Cadet Piglet (Red)' below:
Mark Pawson - Space Cadet Piglet (Red)
Magda Archer was lucky enough to call Mark one of her friends and sent us some words, below:
The Awesome Mr Pawson
I was shocked and very sad to hear that Artist, and my friend, Mark Pawson had died.
It was the 'Art Strike movement of 1991' that to my mind, put Mark on the map. Mark - who originally came from Lymm in Cheshire - and I were hanging out with the same bunch of friends from The Royal College of Art so frankly I’d just assumed he went there too…they should have been so lucky... I’ve only just learnt that he never went to Art School and by the way...he never needed to.
Mark was an inspiration to many of our gang , people like Peter Quinnell and Rob Ryan, he was King of the Zines and he was making his pithy, funny button badges long before it became a ‘thing’. He was a stalwart of artistic communities, a regular stall holder at many of the art markets - one of the last times I saw him was at DIY ART MARKET in Peckham. He taught us all that it was possible to follow your own path and literally ‘Do It Yourself’.
He'll be sorely missed at these events. Funny, helpful, knowledgable & gentle, he was my first port of call when trying to track down a particular artist I’d briefly seen a badge or zine of.
As Mark’s friend Jake Tilson put it so succinctly ‘Mark was a cornerstone of sub-counter culture in London for decades...armed with badges, sticker sheets & zines you could affect your culture with seemingly small means.’
It was an honour to include Mr P. in last summer's Jealous Gallery show ‘Not Quite Disney’; - his work was a shining example of what you could make Art BE.
Photograph of Mark by Jenny Lewis