A childhood naturalist, Mark spent his formative years in the woods that surrounded the family home. His tiny bedroom was a trove of tanks of the living, bottles and jars of the dead and dissected owl pellets from the barn.
At 16, bored of preserving and pickling, Bell picked up a camera.
At 18 he travelled to London to chase the dream of a photographer.
After a few years, with an agent and work published in Blitz and Vogue, he fell in love with sculpture, making pieces from found objects procured from the streets and skips of Hackney. Commissions came from individuals such as Alan Ayckbourn and institutions including The Royal National Theatre. Mark exhibited at the ICA and he created an installation at EARTH, Art of a changing world at The Royal Academy. His career morphed to become a Creative Director. He went onto found two design agencies, Warm Rain and latterly Mark Lawson Bell Studio, under the moniker of Plinth Creative. Their client lists citing some of the world’s top brands, from ABSOLUT, to Veuve Clicquot. They won a design award for a Pringle of Scotland interior, and featured in many design books. He was the Artistic Director of ‘sketch’ in London. By all accounts the most creative collection of restaurants and bars under one roof in Mayfair.
He is now concentrating on his own work again. He lives and works in Hastings, East Sussex.
Exhibitions:
Casbar Gallery
Big Chill Art Trails
Eye Of The Beholder, Institute Of Contemporary Art
EARTH, Art of a changing world, The Royal Academy
Sketch
Wonder Walk, (Frieze) Boucheron
Lumiere, (Frieze) Boucheron
Adorn, (Frieze) Boucheron
The Great Imagining with Gavin Turk
Hayward Gallery ‘My Dear Earth’
Guernica 37
About Time, Swanfall Art – Audience Choice Award
Murmuration, J/M Gallery
The Garden Of Tomorrow, with Brian Eno + House Of Hackney
Born in 1969, Mark grew up in rural Cornwall.
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