Mark Todd is a visual artist and creative writer who integrates images and words in paintings, drawings and book forms, and even more recently, audio forms. He experiments with the relationships between image and text, fragmenting and juxtaposing them in order to engage and challenge the viewer/reader. While the content of the work is dark and disturbing, the context of the work is drawn from the most ordinary of life’s daily experiences.
Todd holds three degrees from the University of Iowa where he specialized in printmaking, but also studied within the area of creative writing. His work has been shown throughout the world in one-person and group exhibitions and can be found in numerous private and public collections including the James Michener Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, the San Jose Museum of Art in San Jose, California, and the San Antonio Museum of Art. His work has been featured in many design publications, PRINT, Graphis, Communication Arts Magazine and Creative Quarterly.
As a designer, he has worked for the music industry to produce posters, CD packages and promotional materials for many artists including Leatherbag, Scratch Acid, the Jesus Lizard, Scott Biram, 00, RC Banks, Bruce Robison and the Deal.
Todd has produced several books recently, ugly child (2010), paste and spit (2009), the girls of rippey (2008), phantom pain (2008) and tub (2007). paste and spit was his first venture into the arena of songwriting and recording, in conjunction with the visual product. In that book, the photographic and drawn imagery (and embedded text) inspired the production of a sound recording that corresponded to the images. A disk was produced and encased within the cover of the book. With the most recent project, ugly child, the music was produced first, with the visual images being recorded in response.
Prior to these creative endeavors, Todd had worked with David Shields as the design team, White Gas, to produce three books, possum box (2004), ashe motors (2001) and catfish hens (1999). Work from their book catfish hens was featured in the 2004 book Handwritten: Expressive Lettering in the Digital Age by Steven Heller and Mirko Ilic, published by Thames and Hudson.
Mr. Todd lives and works in Texas and Edinburgh, Scotland. His work can be found at marktoddstuff.com, cdbaby.com and various online music sites, such as itunes.
