After 15 years as a successful Illustrator and cover artist for more than 100 paperbacks in the fantasy genre, Garro has exploded onto the fine art scene, exhibiting his paintings nationally and internationally. His growing collector base eagerly await his next meticulously designed and executed work.
A miniaturist who likes to work big, Garro struggles with this clash of sensibilities all the time in order to be as prolific as possible. The work often features classically beautiful figures as cosmological cogs working within the complex mechanisms of the universe. Dynamic motion of familiar shapes morphing and implying other familiar shapes, creating, destroying and re-creating once again in two dimensions but implying four.
A New York-based, free-lance artist, Mark Garro has assembled a diverse portfolio. After obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Art in Illustration from Syracuse University on a full scholarship, Garro worked in a New York City gallery while building his portfolio. Over the next 20 years Garro illustrated book covers for several wildly successful book series.
Garro incorporates a deep sense of light, color and realism assuming a unique style that sometimes dwells on the dark side. His heavy emphasis on realistic trompe l’oeil techniques puts Mark’s work over the top in terms of space, depth and illusion. His commercial art experience includes cover illustrations for more than 100 popular books and designs for many prestigious clients in the fields of consumer product sales and publishing. In the mid-90's, he completed book cover illustrations for author R.L. Stine's "Ghosts of Fear Street" series.
Garro now focuses on fine art projects ranging from a large-scale triptych featuring the imagery of Heaven, Purgatory and Hell, to a museum diorama influenced series of the Four Seasons. In his diminishing spare time, Garro also enjoys painting replicas of Maxfield Parrish original landscapes in miniature and trompe l’oile painting on eggs. A musician and rock-climbing enthusiast, Mark has become a bird and flower fanatic since moving to his Mountain-top home and studio in the Catskills.
EDUCATION:
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Illustration 1984 (full scholarship)
Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse, NY
AWARDS and EXHIBITIONS:
“ Amazing Visions” Exhibition of Surrealist painters at Roq La Rue gallery Seattle WA - April 2007
Annual RSVP Theme Show - Society of Illustrators Gallery - Finalist 1995 to 2004
Retrospective Show – Opening of Artist’s New Studio – Summer 2003
One-Man Show – Carol Conditt Gallery – White Plains NY – Summer 2002
One-Man Show – "All that Jazz" Marmara Gallery –Manhattan NY – Summer 2001
Society of Illustrators – Annual 36 & 37
Communication Art – Annual 36 & 39
Blue Ribbons/Honorable Mentions – Juried Shows – Art Society of Old Greenwich CT
Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles – Annual 34
One-Man Show – VDC Gallery – SOHO Manhattan NY – Autumn 1991, Autumn 1993
I.A.C. Award of Excellence for Painting
Prints ’87 Regional Design Annual
1987 Desi Award
New York Type Director’s Club Annual 8
5th Annual Amos Eno Juried Small Works Show – SOHO Manhattan NY
13th Annual Juried Small Works Show – New York University
Exhibition at Atelier Ettinger – SOHO Manhattan NY
Honorable Mention – Waveny House Exhibit – New Canaan CT
CLIENTS INCLUDE:
Addison-Wesley
Avon Cosmetics
Avon Publications
Ballantine Books
Berkley Publishing
Bill Publications
Caldwell Davis
Cosmopolis Crowley and Daly
Cow Parade 2000
Dancer Fitzgerald Sample
Stamford Downtown Special Services
Star, Inc. - Norwalk, CT
General Foods Corporate
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Harper Collins
Little Brown
Nickelodeon
Official Publications
Playboy Jazz Festival Magazine
Pocket Books
R.A. Cooney Design
Random House
Readers Digest
Remco Toys
Saatchi and Saatchi
Scholastic Books
Tor Books
Warner Records
Young & Rubicam