IMPULSE
"I have an impulse to make art, I cultivate instinct and nurture the relationship between the conscious and subconscious mind and employ them to invent and transcend the mundane."
ARTISTIC PRACTICE
I have an impulse to make art, I cultivate the interplay between the conscious and unconscious mind and employ them to invent and transcend the mundane. For me the practice of art is a rebellion against apathy, I use it to subvert the predictive nature of my thoughts and explore the relationship between instinct and ideas of purity.
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I invent worlds and individuals that find themselves in diverse situations amongst themes of individuality, resilience and marginal relationships and the friction between ideals and feelings of incompatibility with the status quo. Presented in a range of mediums including, painting, moving image, poetry film, music, ink drawing, mixed media installations, projections, paste ups, street art murals and published writing.
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Writing is a foundation of my work and is a very visual experience resulting in vivid imagery which easily translates to my visual and moving image work, giving my writing life beyond the page.
BIO
Mark Niehus is an Australian multi-disciplinary artist based in Port Adelaide. He worked as a photographic technician before returning to study interface design and moving to London to work as a lead web designer. After travelling extensively through Europe and North Africa and living in New York, Niehus returned to Adelaide choosing to retire from design to dedicate himself to writing and making art, financing this necessity with a string of casual labour jobs.
Primarily self-taught, Niehus employs skills from his photographic and design background with many years of stylistic experimentation to develop a unique style working mainly with acrylic paint, digital video and poetry.
Heavily inspired by the ‘Beat’ movement of the 1950’s and the surrealist process of automatism.
The themes he examines include individuality, resilience and marginal relationships and the dynamics of human society.
Now a full-time artist Niehus continues to seek and to discover new ways to apply his experimental ethos to engage audiences and push the boundaries of his art.
His work has been shown in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Adelaide and Melbourne from 2007 to the present and his moving image work has been screened in various international film festivals such as Fotogenia, Mexico and ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Berlin. He has also published a book of poems and featured in numerous literary journals and a finalist for a number of art and film festival prizes, including Newmarch Portrait Prize, Adelaide and the Hombres Videopoetry Award, Italy.
Most recently, Niehus produced a solo exhibition ‘Artefacts of the Unconscious Mind’ at Ladder Art Space in Melbourne.
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Solo Exhibitions
2024 Artefacts of an Unconscious Mind, Ladder Art Space, Melbourne
2021 Backbone, Newmarch Gallery, Adelaide
2017 Street Poetry, La Lorientaise, Adelaide
2015 Object Words, Entropy, SALA, Adelaide
2012 The Individual, Au Matin Calme, SALA, Adelaide
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Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Beauties & Beasts, The Main Gallery, Adelaide
2023 12th Prospect Portrait Prize Finalist Exhibition Newmarch Gallery, Adelaide
2022 Art Works, Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide
2021 11th Prospect Portrait Prize Finalist Exhibition Newmarch Gallery, Adelaide
2020 Submerge, PraxisARTSPACE, Adelaide
2018 Square Eyes, Gallery M, Adelaide
2014 Subtext, SA Writers Centre, Adelaide
2009 Format+2%=Big!, Format, Adelaide
2009 Moment Versus Momentum Rotterdam, Rotterdam
2007 INTENT, Queens Theatre, Adelaide
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Public Art
2020 Outside Light, Mixed Creative, Adelaide
2019 Outside Light, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
2018 Outside Light, Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide
2018 Shiver, City of Adelaide Street Projection, Adelaide
2017 Street Poetry Illuminations, City of Adelaide Street, Adelaide
2016 Street Art and Poetry, Holden Street Theatre, Adelaide
2016 Quietude, Soldiers Memorial Gardens, Adelaide
2015 Street Art Poetry Project, City of Adelaide, Adelaide
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Awards
2023 Finalist, 12th Prospect Portrait Prize, Adelaide
2021 Finalist, 11th Prospect Portrait Prize, Adelaide
2020 Finalist Hombres Videopoetry Award, Italy
2020 Finalist, Newlyn PZ International Film Festival UK
2019 Finalist, Ó Bhéal Poetry-Film competition, UK
Presented Workshops & Artist Talks
2021 Dictation of thought - Writing for the surreal, AGSA, Adelaide
2021 Backbone - In conversation, Newmarch Gallery, Adelaide
Commissions/Residencies
2018 Rattle, ANAT - Luminosity Commission, Adelaide
2014 Poet-in-Residence, SWSA, Adelaide
Media Articles
Art Edit Magazine, ‘Ones To Watch’ Link Here
The Adelaide Review, ‘The art of submersion’ Link Here
Your Prospect, ‘An Antidote to the Mundane’ Link Here
Rochford Street Review, ‘Quietude’ Link Here
The Advertiser, ‘Ode to spring onions!’ Link Here
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Film Festivals
2021 The Wrong with InAbsentia, Italy
2021 Festival Fotogenia Vol:3, Mexico
2021 10th International Video Poetry Festival, Athens
2021 REELpoetry/Houston TX, U.S.A.
2020 Midwest Video Poetry Fest, USA
2020 ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Germany
2020 Hombres Videopoetry Award 2020, Italy
2020 Newlyn PZ Film Festival, UK
2020 International Short Film Festival Music & Fashion VII Edition, France
2020 The Reel Poetry/Houston TX, USA
2019 Festival Fotogenia Vol:2, Mexico
2019 The Wrong, Italy
2019 The Lift-Off Sessions, UK
2019 All Together Now: A Celebration of Art, Film & Music!, USA
2019 Poetry + Video, Australia
2029 Newlyn PZ International Film Festival, UK
Books
2008 How Do You Want The Fire To Leave You?
Publications
2017 Red Fez
2017 Rochford Street Review
2016 The Mind[less] Muse
2016 UniLife Magazine
2013 Rabbit Journal
2010 Australian Reader