About

Photo by Linda Elly

Mark Holsworth – Writer and Artist

The author of The Picasso Ransom, and Sculptures of Melbourne along with various articles, short stories, plays, role-playing game scenarios, and hack writing jobs.

I have lived a Gen-X version of a boys own artistic adventure: writing, traveling, playing in bands and making art. I still enjoy a weekly role-playing game (lots of Chaosium games).

As a teenager I was wrote plays for theatre; Sister Sister was first performed at St. Martin’s Youth Theatre in Melbourne in 1983 and subsequently at the MCAE in 1985 and LaTrobe Uni in 1996.

I attended Monash University where I did an honours major in philosophy and minor in visual arts history. I was interested in the intersection of philosophy and art and so I did MA in philosophy at La Trobe University about Marcel Duchamp’s readymades.

The first garage band that I was in had Richard Watts, of 3RRR’s SmartArts, as lead singer. This was followed by Jabberwock, an experimental music group, Edie Sedgwick’s Overdose, a tribute band to the Velvet Underground with Ron Rude, and, finally, Dada Tribe #373 a techno band, part of Melbourne’s Clan Analogue.

I was part of the 2001 internet company Nasdaq bubble, working as an editor with LookSmart.com, an internet directory, along with ghost-sign expert, Stefan Schutt and film critic, Cerise Howard and other talented people.

Along with many group exhibitions I have had a few solo exhibitions in several Melbourne galleries. I have also organised exhibitions, including a goth art exhibition. In 2008 I was the volunteer co-ordinator for the Melbourne Stencil Festival and I was its secretary in 2009 and 2010, when it re-branded itself as Sweet Streets.

Mark Holsworth, Sancho Panza, 2006, oil on wood

Media about Black Mark

• “High crimes with paint brushes” episode of Life and Crimes with Andrew Rule
• “Melbourne Sculpture + Psyche”, Girl Gone Home
• “Casting aspersions on state of the art” Steve Dow, Andrew Taylor (8/12/12)
• Radio interview on 3RRR Smart Arts with Richard Watts.
• “Invurt Guide to Cool Oz Art Blogs”, Invurt
• Interview on The Art and the Curious with Celeste Hawkins
• Black Mark has been included in PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/98892

Mark Holsworth, Portrait of John Coleman, 2013, oil on wood

Publications

• The Picasso Ransom (self published, 2023)
• “Sculpture’s Social Power” World Sculpture News v25 n3 Summer 2019
• “Dan Wollmering at & Gallery” World Sculpture News v23 n3 Summer 2017
• “Why the Brett Whiteley forgery convictions were quashed” The Daily Review 1 May 2017
• “10 things learnt from 10 years of blogging” ArtsHub 20/2/2017
• Sculptures of Melbourne (Melbourne Boooks, 2015)
• “Paul Yore” Vault – New Art & Culture Magazine Issue 8
• “Artist Acquitted of Obscenity, but Chill of Censorship Endures”  Hyperallergic (3/10/14)
• “Justice, with one foot forward” Justinian (18/9/2014)
• “The branding of Joel Gailer: Performprint Spectacular” Imprint Magazine (Spring, 2014)
• “From Great Men to Landmarks – RMIT and Melbourne’s Public Sculpture” Revelations – Sculpture from the RMIT Art Collection (catalogue, RMIT Gallery, May 2014)
• “A Century of Readymades” Art Monthly Australia (Nov. 2013)
• “Child p-rn – or art censorship by wannabe Tory pollies” Crikey (5/6/13)
• “Melbourne’s Selfie Mecca” Hyperallergic (30/5/13)
• “Will Coles – Concrete Chips” Trouble (March, 2013)
• “What the Hell Are We Going to Do With All This Junk?” Hyperallergic (23/11/12)
• “Beware Street Artists Bearing Thought-provoking Gifts” Hyperallergic (7/11/12)
• “Small Change for Big Culture”  Trouble (Dec/Jan 2011)

Mark Holsworth, History, 2008, oil on wood

Thanks to Evangeline Cachinero for creating the Black Mark banner.

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