Mark Jackson Figurative Paintings

All tuckered out. Based on the childhood game where the floor becomes lava and you must avoid it at all costs, I wanted to create a piece dedicated to the glorious and silly imagina...

There's an inner light we all share (maybe I'm doing too much yoga) and I wanted to celebrate that with this work. Loved abstracting the landscape. Using stripes, I've tied together...

A playful abstract figurative painting, this work is inspired by one of the fairies in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. I wanted to show an impish and Puck-like mischief...

Part of my 'Socks' series. A loose composition emphasises the confidence of the figure. Daring and provocative but fully exposed, we wonder whether the subject is truly defiant or m...

Inspired by the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name, this peace captures that universally challenging moment when the curtains are opened. Matisse influenced me here with hi...

Part of my 'Socks' series. This work was fun to paint. Originally part of a larger canvas, I decided to concentrate on this part of the scene so cut it out and re-framed it. Thi...

Part of the 'Socks' series. Who doesn't love mucking around on a waterbed? I enjoy how the figure attempts to stabilise himself on the unpredictable surface, emphasising his vul...

A playful male figurative painting. Part of my 'Socks' series, I love the playful gesture of the figure. Caught in a simple and silly mo...

"Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic" - The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde. This book by Oscar Wilde mesmerised me when I was younger. It spo...

Part of my 'Socks' series. I'm particularly pleased with the abstract looseness of this work - the brush marks, textures and embraced drips. The subject is poised, totally presen...

The men’s bathing pond on Hampstead heath is a summer institution for London’s gay community. It’s a safe space to show off and soak up the sun, and you’ll always bump into someone y...

A playful male figurative painting. Part of my 'Socks' series, I love the playful gesture of the figure. Caught up in the simple act of adju...

Recently, I’ve been moving my figures out of the bedrooms and intimate spaces they’ve occupied into landscapes. This piece is in spired by a lyric from the Jewel's song 'Jupiter'. I ...

With this new large work I’m starting an exploration of deities and mythical beings that I intend to continue. Building on the themes of my previous painting ‘People Say I’m Lazy’,...

I continue to find that intimate spaces like bedrooms provide seductive settings for paintings. There's something about a piece of art giving the viewer unfiltered access to a subject's personal, private moment that appeals to me. Particularly if that moment is a celebration of one's vulnerability. With this painting we find a young man at a crossroads, a point where he must choose to hold on or let go, continue with the familiar or embrace the unknown. It is clear he has chosen the latter and I wanted to create a work that allows us all to bask in the freedom of that decision. All too often, masculinity is defined as successful when it is strong, commanding and in control. The fall out of this is usually domination and oppression. I want to paint a different reality, one where a softening of these definitions can lead to a more inclusive future. An abstract and intimate male figure painting.

Mark Jackson is an abstract figurative artist based in London. Working with acrylics on canvas, he aims to produce paintings that explore modern masculinity, often - but not exclusiv...