Summary

Mark Stock's [1951-2014] paintings connect viewers to the euphoria, loneliness and sometimes fatal entanglements of romance. Often melodramatic and tinged with irony, Stock's images illustrate love's power to provoke our best, and most illicit, behavior. A well-dressed voyeur peeks past the curtain of a mansion window, silent and intent on the object of his desire. Picnicking lovers look into each other's eyes. An attractive woman smokes a cigarette as she sits next to a man's corpse, which has been rolled neatly in a carpet, ready for disposal. A butler steals a moment to treasure lipstick left on a glass by the woman who employs him. Stock's paintings tell the story of each character with remarkable subtlety and, in many cases, with humor. Stock is, after all, a master of the realist style, and he uses color, shadow and line to amazing effect. Details in facial expression, body language and background tell you there's more going on here than rapture, scandal and dangerous liaisons. These paintings keep you coming back for another look, for clues to life's telling moments

Over the past three decades, Mark Stock's paintings have earned him critical comparisons to Harnett for his trompe l'oeil illusionism, de La Tour for his mastery of atmospheric light, and the contemporary American photographer Cindy Sherman for his conceptual sophistication. His works are in the permanent collections of institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the Library of Congress. He is also  acclaimed for his stage and costume designs, realized for the Los Angeles Chamber Ballet and the Rudy Perez Dance Company. In 1993 he was honored as Distinguished Alumnus by the University of South Florida.

Press

Mark STOCK
Modernism Gallery and the Late Mark Stock: Art, Friendship and Feeling
[original link]
2014-05-21

Mark STOCK
Mark Stock
[original link]
2014-05-21

Mark STOCK
Mark Stock Obituary SF Chronicle
[original Chronicle link]
2014-04-02

Mark STOCK
Mark Stock L.A. Times
2013-11-22

Mark STOCK
Mark Stock Examiner
2012-04-06

Mark STOCK
The Mystery of Mark Stock
2009-12-10