Mark Bava: July 2006

"Sounding Brass"
Bronze
18"
1998

"20th Century Gothic"
Bronze
36"
1998

"Triad"
Bronze 18"
2008

"From The Clothes Hangs The Man"
Bronze
"22"
2001

"9 AM, A Train"
Bronze
22"
2000

"Wall"
Bronze
"26"
2000

"Man Losing Everything"
Bronze
22"
1998

Against a Wall
Bronze and Steel
2008

Mark Bava
w/installation of "The Last Supper"

"The Committee"
Bronze
26"
1998

"The Judges"
Bronze
22"
2000

"Mark Bava conveys in his bronzes the complexities within the relationships between modern man and society. Uniquely using space and mass, Bava gives a satirical glimpse into the contemporary roles we play. Through his figures Bava reveals the necessity of interdependence while reminding the viewer of the vitality of individuality."

-Victoria Blazanach

The Sirens

"Odysseus"
Bronze
32"
1998

"Waiting for Odysseus"
Bronze
29"
1998

"Sparten"
Bronze
28"
1999

"Minotaur"
Bronze
28"
1998

"Pillar of Salt"
Bronze
22"
1991

"Icarus"
Bronze
"21"
1997

The Ferryman"
Bronze
45"
1992

"Pandora"
Bronze
42"
1991

Daedalus
Bronze 20"
1996

"Hermes"
Bronze
28"
1999

"Torn"
Bronze
22"
1996

"Matador 2"
Bronze
26"
1996

"Walking Matador 2"
Bronze
68"
1997

Taurus 2011 Bronze 9 x 18"

"Walking Matador"
Bronze
36"
1996

About Mark Bava

“The first thing…is to get a respectable suit”
- Jason Robard, A Thousand Clowns

Mark Bava is noted for bronze sculptures, which though clearly figurative in nature, are abstracted figures rather than realist representations. The surfaces of his sculptures are chipped, hacked and left with tool marks to emphasize textures.

His human figures, even those that are sculpted with a second figure, exist independently of anyone around them. Iconic in nature, the figure is isolated and exemplified while typifying human character or social behavior.

Since childhood Bava took an interest in art, producing drawings and paintings at a very early age under the tutelage of his mother who was an Impressionistic painter He attended art school in the mid-seventies at CSUS Stanislaus which at the time was known for an art department that boasted a contemporary curriculum with many of the instructors from New York. Through the school's art and theatre program, winter semesters were spent in the city under department head and sculptor Ralf Parton. Studying in New York during that period of Abstract Expressionism had a major impact on his work today.

He sites Giacometti, Lynn Chadwick, Manuel Neri and Kenneth Armitage as influences. Mr. Bava also has considerable foundry and mold making experience. He is also well known for his productions of large multi-media events in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Artist Statement:

My work is more conceptual in that I focus on texture and body language over form and design to create a character commentary. I save my mistakes and sometimes utilize casting flaws. I try to give the figures an "iconic" quality or the look of primitive relics. I'm a history and sociology buff. I love old ruins and broken statuary. I get a lot of my ideas just looking at those forms and surfaces.

Galleries:
Current:
Gruen Gallery-Chicago, Ill

Renaissance Fine Arts, Baltimore, Bethesda, Md. and Haverford, Pa.

Sculpture Site/New Leaf Gallery, Sonoma, Ca
Christopher Hill Gallery, St Helena, Ca.
Gallery 21, Carmel, Ca.
Del Jou Art Group, Atlanta, Ga

Selected Solo Shows:
Braico Gallery, Myths and Modern Legends 1997
Sculpture House and Gardens, Recent Works 1998
Bradford/Smock Gallery, San Francisco, Ca. 1999
Alvarado Gallery/Monterey Conference Center, Meditations 2000
Pacific Grove Art Center, Urban Myths and Heros 1999

Mary Titus Gallery, Monterey, Ca 2009

Anon Salon Gallery, San Francisco, Ca. 2009
Gallery 21, Carmel, Ca Mark Bava New Works, 2010

Selected Group Shows:
Beux Arts, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Tx 2002
Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, Ca
Pacific Rim Group, Monterey, Ca. 1996
Autumn Lights, Los Angeles, Ca. 2007
Anon Salon, San Francisco, Ca. 2004
Seaside City Hall, Seaside, Ca. 2001
Braico/Lewis Gallery, Carmel, Ca. 2004
Sunset Cultural Center, Carmel, Ca 2009

Associations:
LARABA (Los Angeles River Arts Business Association) - Board Member
Downtown Artist Project, Los Angeles - Member
Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, Ca. - Board Member
Siggraph, Los Angeles, Ca. - Executive Council

Self Portrait

Distraction
Bronze
2001

Not seen closely: a pig on a porsche wearing a peter pan hat.

"Ascension"
Steel and Bronze
84"
2001

"Whole"
Bronze
16"
2001

From "Meditation Series"
Sculpure House and Gardens
Carmel, Ca.

"Om"
Steel and Bronze
36"
2001

"Namaste"
Steel and Bronze
40"
2001

"Strength"
Steel and Bronze
48"
2001

"Head Level" Installation
Resin, wood and chicken wire
72" x 60" x 28"
1999

"The Last Supper" (detail)
Resin
30" x 30" x 120"
1999

"You're the Man"

Talking red power tie
Painted steel
60" x 10" x 4"
2007

Reprinted from Monterey Herald

Off To The Office

Mark Bava's sculpture offers reflections on the rat race.

Jul 16, 1998

By Sarah Givens

Mark Bava’s work is unlike that of most Monterey-area artists. Instead of drawing inspiration from the region’s natural beauty, Bava’s work--at least the body of his work currently on display at the Sculpture House and Gardens in Carmel Highlands--focuses on the corporate-controlled, urban 9-to-5 rat race that detaches, dehumanizes, and de-individualizes people.

The Italian master, Giacometti’s influence is sometimes present. Several of Bava’s pieces resemble Giacometti''s elongated human forms, and even in pieces that don't follow Giacometti's style, Bava exhibits a similar penchant for experimenting with space and mass. Some of his human figures are shortened and broadened, even as they remain largely two-dimensional.

Bava leaves Giacometti's shadow, however, in the social issues he tackles. Whereas Giacometti may have explored how we visually perceive space, Bava’s work comments on the individual’s place in society today. His human figures, even those that are sculpted with a second human figure, exist independently of anyone around them. The image-conscious, money-centered, modern world has divided and conquered their souls. As he explains it, "There tends to be a lonely sentinel expression to my figures. The characters are ones who are sealed in their fate."

In his piece "Power Brokers," two businessmen stand side by side as clones. While their broad-shouldered business suits give them authority, there is no rapport between them; they are more business-suited drones than they are humans. Their heads are too small for their bodies, and they have no facial features. The somewhat flattened, two-dimensional quality of the figures completes the effect.

Mark Bava's work is currently on display at the Sculpture House and Gardens. A new, more abstract body of his work will be shown at the Monterey Conference Center beginning on July 26.