* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
London-based artist Mark Powell reuses old envelopes as canvases to produce incredible life-like drawings. His sketches are made using only a Biro pen, and they often incorporate original stamps and postage marks. By recycling the envelopes, he is in some way preserving a bit of history and the tales behind the sender.
Mark explains his work by saying, “for me the individual is a fascinating thing. With my mobile phone camera I take photos of people walking the street, riding the tube or bus. I do this unnoticed at first, no egos or megalomania, no sense of self-importance or grandeur can be seen but simply a life being lived. Each person is as important or irrelevant as the next. A face that is devoid of a clear emotion gives an ambiguity that is simple and intriguing, it shows the signs in scars of travel and an uncontrolled gaze; a life lived. The canvas of vintage envelopes holds the same qualities, travel scarred and mysterious, common and used by everyone just like the biro pen that I use.”
