Mark Dion (American, born August 28, 1961) is a unique artist who uses mixed media to create art that conveys the ways people have been conditioned by society to make connections. He relies heavily on scientific categorization methods, plus artifacts and other physical objects that are incorporated into what he terms "Curios of Curiosity." His intent is to make people see differences between rational and irrational perception. In 1986, Dion earned his BFA from the Hartford School of Art. He also attended New York's School of Visual Arts, and studied in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. The University of Hartford's School of Art awarded Dion with an honorary Doctor of Arts degree in 2003.
One of Dion’s ambitious projects,
Tate Thames Dig, involved several phases to complete, including an archaeological dig along the Thames River in London, organization, and classification. Los Angeles is home to a similarly themed piece titled
Ship in the Bottle.
Neukom Vivarium, featured in the Seattle Art Museum, is a living, educational hybridization that combines sculpture with science. It is a permanent installation display that combines a variety of lower life forms together with varying artistic elements in order to explain the scientific classifications.
Dion has held major exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, and the Tate Gallery in London. The Nouveau Musée National de Monaco is home to his
Oceanomania: Souvenirs of Mysterious Seas exhibition.
Dion currently divides his time between New York and Beach Lake, PA. He teaches in the Visual Art Department at Columbia University, wrote
Archaeology, and is the co-author of
Concrete Jungle. New York's
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery represents his works. The Smithsonian American Art Museum awarded Dion the Lucelia Artist Award in 2008.