Mark Granlund (b. 1963, Minneapolis, Minnesota) explores the personal experience of natural landscapes, human activity and contemporary culture. His work utilizes traditional genres of landscape and still life. In his landscapes, Granlund shares the rhythms, layers and patterns that he senses particular to the site, capturing the bodily experience of place. In his still lifes, Granlund is taking traditional still life objects/motifs and pairing, punning and counterpointing them with non-traditional still life objects and situations while commenting on our American culture which substitutes and imitates rather than wading deeper into personal experience.
Granlund earned a BA from Bethel University in Saint Paul, MN and an MFA degree from City University of New York at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York.
The artist has participated in exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts; Oberling Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Minnesota at Morris; the Bell Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis; Duluth Art Institute; Charles H. McNider Museum, Mason City, IA; Neville Public Museum of Brown County, Green Bay, WI; Hunter College, Manhattan; Westbeth Gallery, Manhattan; Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; and the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition winning both first place Drawing and First Place Painting Awards. He has had solo exhibits at Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN; Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI; and Watermark Art Center, Bemidji, MN.
Granlund has also been a public art administrator for the last thirty years. First for the Saint Paul Department of Parks and Recreation and currently with Metro Transit in the Twin Cities. He has overseen the selection and installation of numerous public art projects by other artists, as well as creating or heading the creative team, on twenty-eight public art projects of his own. Granlund also privately consults on public art and its integration into natural and landscaped environments.
Granlund currently splits his time between Red Wing and Saint Paul, Minnesota and is represented at Everett and Charlie Gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and online at: Apricus Art Collection.
ART PRACTICE
Grounded in respect for Nature, Granlund prioritizes working with eco-friendly materials: eco-sensitive paints and finishing products, organic cotton or linen, and sustainable lumber for his stretchers and frames. You can read more about this journey, here.
WRITING
Granlund writes about his art practice, his travels, and art and the environment. You can follow his writing at his Substack: Mark Granlund Studio.
RESUME
You can view Granlund's resume here.
RECENT MEDIA
Down in the Valleys, Agate Magazine - September 2023
Talking with Artist Mark Granlund, Of Ink and Insight Podcast - June 2023
Mark Granlund: An Artist Grounded in Nature, Southwest Connector, Minneapolis - April 2023
Conversations with Mark Granlund, Voyage Minnesota Magazine - February 2023
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