MARK ACETELLI - Artist Statement

Mark Acetelli was born in 1969 in Detroit into an artist household. Mark’s mother herself was a painter and some of his earliest memories were the smell of turpentine and oil paints. Growing up surrounded by his mothers work, she inspired and encouraged him to become an artist. Mark was first drawn to music, playing guitar for many years and then deciding in 1999 to follow his muse and his Mother’s footsteps, a journey that would lead him to becoming a painter.

Mark describes his work as “The Elegance of Decay.” Like the walls of an old city, distressed, weathered, as if the hands of time have stripped and eroded the surface of the painting to reveal a beauty all their own. Continuously building up and tearing down, layer upon layer of paint, adding and subtracting, until the emotion is expressed.

In his latest series, entitled Deconstruction, Mark all but abandons his paint brushes for a palette knife; this technique gives the paintings a whole new expression and feel with more diverse colors and earthy palette. Mark uses primarily oils and encaustics to create thickly layered canvases, with emotive bursts of color and texture. Striking a delicate balance between personal introspection and accessibility for the viewer. He seeks to evoke a feeling rather than depict a defined image. One that is ever changing in all it’s complexities, exploring universal themes of life, death, love, and loss.

The works of Mark Acetelli can be found in many private and corporate collections around the world, including Raytheon Corp., Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Michael Jordan, Stuart Beattie, Claire Forlani, Camryn Mainhiem and Francine Maisler.