Mark Reep is an artist based near Pittsburgh who I first profiled back in 2006. His dreamlike, enigmatic imaginary landscapes are rendered monochromatically in graphite, charcoal and ink.
His monochromatic approach seems to heighten the sense of mystery, as textural rock faces, towers and islands emerge from mist and fog, their exact boundaries obscured.
His isolated towers of rock, jutting up from valleys lost in mist, predate similar imagery from the movie Avatar by many years.
I particularly admire the geometric strength of his compositions, in which negative space often plays a prominent role.
There is an interview with Reep in the Strathmore Artist Papers site from February.
Reep’s blog, which he titles dreams in black and white, sometimes has larger reproductions of his drawings than his website.
Thare are prints and other items featuring Reep’s drawings and photographs on Fine Art America and RedBubble, and originals on West End Gallery.
