About Mark

First of all, I would like to say thank you to Club Med for helping me fulfill my calling to be a painter. When I look back at the events that fell into place over the years, I can see patterns of activity and experiences that have formed my path of destiny, and it all makes much more sense when looking back at it all now. All of the art on this site is part of my collection which has taken 22 years to create. The archival quality prints that are available now are all edited by me, because I feel that I need to be in control of the final result, even if that result is imperfect, it was my hand that created the piece. After many years of making my own prints, I have decided to hire a printing and framing company to take my edited files and create the products that are for sale on this website so that I can be freer to travel and do what I need to do: PAINT! Many of my prints are open editions, but I also have originals, artist proofs and limited editions available. So now more about me: I love water, and all of my life I have been interacting with it. Born near Chicago, as a Pisces child, I lived near Lake Michigan, and I loved going to the beach there. And then we went to Florida and to other wonderful areas that were on the oceans of both coasts or the Gulf of Mexico. I've lived in Florida, Mexico, and California, where I began to swim a mile every day in the Pacific ocean from La Jolla cove. Early on, I studied piano and voice and later played characters such as "Sky Masterson" and "Joey" in musical comedies. In 1973, I travelled to London, and then I was whisked away by a French "angel of mercy", (who I ended up getting married to), and I was off to Paris, France, the city of LOVE! There I had the opportunity to observe a real French painter in action, painting on silk in a little studio in Monmarte! After that I returned to the U.S. and I majored in Theatre: Directing and Playwriting at University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and Acting at Columbia College in Chicago. I then moved to California and from California I travelled to Mexico, Brazil during Caranaval time, and finally Italy. In those places, I met more painters who inspired me, and so I began my own expressionist style of painting. As a child, I painted with my mother who is a landscape painter, but it was at age 33 that my painter destiny unfolded. After being invited to display my "Brazilian Carnaval dancers" artwork in the International T-shirt artists' exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 1985, I was offered a job teaching art at Club Med in Mexico where I went on to do several seasons with them, teaching the art of painting on silk in their beautiful villages all along the Pacific coast... receiving training for painting on silk from a French G.O. After my first season with Club Med I travelled North, ending up in Puerto Vallarta where I met a wonderful French lady who owned a hotel there, and I traded with her for two years- art for rent... So you see, although I love Mexico and Latin America, I definitely have a "French connection"! While living in Mexico, I started signing my paintings as "Marco Rey" and sometimes Marco Rojelio" as I was getting into the Latin spirit, I learned that "Marco Rey" was actually the Latin version of Mark Roy...From Mexico, I moved to Florida, but I missed Mexico so much that I went back to Club Med again to teach silk painting in Ixtapa and Huatulco Mexico. Since then I have been spending lots of time in Cozumel, where the waters are liquid aquamarine! I can't think of anything more beautiful or inspiring. Hence, most of my paintings embrace my love of the sea. When I'm in the desert, I look for an oasis. Painting water makes me feel renewed and peaceful. Other influences in my art are more internal and come from somewhere within my imagination or from my own personal experience. My work has been displayed in galleries and beautiful homes all over the world, including: New York, Florida, Mexico, Oregon, Chicago and Europe. Most recently, in 2007, I had a solo exhibition at Galeria Azul in Cozumel, Mexico, and in 2008, I had another exhibition of my art, running from Valentines Day through Memorial Day at Island Lovers Art, located in Longboat Key, Florida. Coming up in July will be my next adventure, celebrating Independence Day with my friends across the Atlantic!