Focusing on the fragments

Sophie Winch talks to Friern Barnet artist Mark Woods about his new exhibition

Henry Heath Hat Factory, Soho W1 by Mark Woods — (Credit – Mark Woods)

Later this month, Friern Barnet-based artist Mark Woods takes his work to Burgh House in Hampstead with a new exhibition Urban Portraits: Fragments of London.

Woods’ art centres around buildings on the “cusp of change”. They are mixed media artworks; he uses watercolour, gouache and coloured pencil to capture oft-overlooked corners of the city. Woods aims to bring the buildings to life in a way that photographs can’t quite achieve; he spends hours drawing on-site. His focus is on what he calls the “scars” of buildings, graffiti and flaws and signs of weathering. Each painting serves as a portrait of an ephemeral structure, a “memory of what it was”.

Woods often identifies his subjects by looking for abandoned and derelict buildings in gentrified areas, which look as if they will soon be gutted. The reason people care about these, he believes, is generally not because of the buildings themselves, but the memories they hold. By depicting them as true to life as possible, Woods hopes to “keep the soul for people to appreciate”.

Having arrived in London from Wales at nineteen to attend university, Woods started exploring the city early. At first, this was just to find his way around. Living in London, Woods explains, you don’t think of it as “somewhere to visit”. He describes his journeys as “trying to find my London instead of the London I’d thought I was living in”. He began to actively seek out forgotten or abandoned areas, to paint them.

Urban Portraits spans twenty years of these pieces, depicting a London Woods believes is becoming increasingly gentrified. As abandoned warehouses are razed to the ground, history is being erased; Woods hopes to preserve the feeling of these buildings before they disappear.

Urban Portraits: Fragments of London is being shown at Burgh House from 28th October to 15th November

More information about the exhibition can be found here: https://www.burghhouse.org.uk/whats-on/whats-on/exhibition/urban-portraits-fragments-of-london

You can follow Mark Woods @markwoodsart, or visit his website at www.markwoodsartist.com

Local news needs your support

We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can’t do this without the support of our readers.

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

ACT NOW!

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.