About the Artists: Markus is a German born, Irish citizen, who studied art in Ireland and has been a professional artist ever since, including teaching sculpture and drawing at university level and exhibiting internationally. Tessa was born in the UK, studied at Farnham and Chelsea Art Schools, and has lived in the States for 8 yrs, Brazil for 16yrs and Cameroon, together with Markus, for 3yrs. She received commissions for her portraits wherever she lived.

As well as their own very diverse work, Markus and Tessa will be showing some of their collaborative work also, which they call tema-icons.

Markus’ work is principally abstract – his sculptural paintings are created by carving, burning, painting and sanding on a variety of domestic surfaces. His work provokes emotional and intellectual responses, and he believes that if his work can inspire conversations that would otherwise not have taken place, it is doing what it is supposed to do. Markus will also be showing some purely 3D work in concrete and mixed media.

Tessa’s work is very different – much more traditional, but no less exciting. Her path has been that of a portrait painter even before she attended art school. Examples of her work are scattered all around the globe. Recently her graphic design background has emerged in her work. In this latest series, her subject matter are faces from her imagination, rather than sitters. All her work is a celebration of her love for people and colour.

Their collaborative work is an innovative combination of these two very different but equally inspired artists. Markus first of all makes the background in his wild and wonderful way, leaving a primed space in the centre where Tessa paints a face in oils. The result is evocative of Byzantine icons but is not intended to be of a ‘religious’ nature, rather a celebration of the feminine in all of us, flaws and all.