Biography
Mark Fairnington was born in 1957 in London and studied at St. Martin’s School of Art from 1979 to 1981. His work explores an interest in the lineage of animal painting and its relation to the history of collecting within the natural sciences, probing the image of natural history specimens in collections, in storage and in displays. In 1988 Fairnington’s exhibition Heavier Than Air at
the Imperial War Museum, London followed a two-year
residency to research the Museum’s archive and
collections. Since 2001 he has worked closely with the
Natural History Museum, London and in 2002 undertook
a field trip to their research station, Las Cuevas in Belize,
which lies within a protected rainforest in the Maya
Mountains. A major exhibition of Fairnington’s work ‘
Fabulous Beasts’ was mounted at the Museum in 2004. Fairnington has received awards from numerous arts institutions, which include London Arts, the British Council, and the Arts and Humanities Research Board.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2014 Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2012 Unnatural History, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Galerie Peter Zimmermann,Mannheim, Germany
2011 Flora, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin
2010 Bull Market, Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, Suffolk
2009 Private Collection, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2008 Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2007 Dynasty, Art Agents, Hamburg, Germany
2006 The Raft, Fred, London
2006 VOLTA 02, Basel, Fred (London), UK
2005 Medieval Modern, London, UK
2005 Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Frankfurt Art Fair, Frankfurt, Germany
2004 Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2004 Wunderkammer II, Wunderkammer I, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany
2004 Artlab, Imperial College, London, UK
2003 Mobile Home Gallery, London, UK
2002 Dead or Alive, Oxford University Museum of Natural History
2000 Specimen, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014 Accrochage, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2013 Accrochage, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2013 BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery
2011 Auction Room, Globe Gallery, Newcastle
2011 Drawing: Interpretation/Translation, The Drawing Gallery, Powys
2011 40 Artists – 80 Drawings, The Burton Art Gallery and Museum, Devon
2010 Miscellaneous, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim Germany
2009 A Duck for Mr Darwin, Balitc Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom
2008 Accrochage, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2007 Accrochage, Galerie Peter Zimmermann, Mannheim, Germany
2007 DC Dusseldorf Contemporary 2007, (Fred) London showing Abetz/Drescher, Nayland Blake, Simon English and Mark Fairnington
2007 London Assembly, Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
2007 Salon Nouveau, Engholm Engelhorn Galerie, Vienna, Austria curated by Jasper Sharp
2006 Zoo Art Fair, London, UK
2005 Pulse, Miami, FRED (London), UK
2005 Young Masters, 148a John Street, London, UK
2005 Blumenstück.Künstlers Glück, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
2005 A history of flower painting including James Ensor, Claude Monet, Marc Quinn, Fiona Rae, Gerhard Richter
2005 Infallible in Search of the Real George Eliot, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, UK
2004 John Moores 23, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK
2004 Fabulous Beasts, The Natural History Museum, London, UK
2004 The Goat, Medieval Modern, with Olivier Richon
2004 Transmission Portfolio, Domo Baal Gallery, London, UK
2003 Transmission Portfolio, Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK
2003 The Human Zoo, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, UK
2003 Infallible in Search of the Real George Eliot APT Gallery, London, UK
2003 Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, UK
2003 Chockerfuckingblocked, Jeffrey Charles Gallery, London, UK