Mark O' Rourke

Mark O' Rourke was educated in London, Dublin and Oxford. He is a graduate of The Slade School of Art where he gained a distinction for his Masters in1997. Rourke has shown in The Museum of Modern Art Oxford, 'Citizens' in Edinburgh, Gordonstone School Elgin, Moray Scotland, and L'Entrepot- Lieu Des Cultures a Paris in France, the Royal Academy Summer Show and the Tate Modern, London as part of the Undercurrents Programme, "Tweet me up with Tracy Moberly ". This included a diverse range of artists exploring the relationship and influences of subcultures upon dominant or mainstream culture. At the Tate Tanks, he also participated in Label "Family Old, Family New…Who Am I?” which was curated by Tate Collective as part of the Great British Art Debate, in the Duveen Galleries of Tate Britain. Mark showed a series of family portraits and digitally manipulated imagery, exploring the theme of the Modern Family.

Mark O' Rourke has travelled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. He was the lead artist on the Peace Pagoda in Ladakh Leh. In Africa, Mark made a number of significant Desert journeys; a long trip in the Eastern Desert of Egypt; The Sinai including Mount Sinai; Saint Catherine's Monastery, and the Blue Desert. In Tunisia crossing The Chott el Djerid, and the beginnings of the Grand Erg Oriental desert 'Great Eastern Sand Sea', and the Bedouin Oasis towns of Kebili and Douz. Mark then spent four years in Italy. There he made significant studies of Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, and the Fra Angelico's in the Convent of San Marco, Florence, as well as making an extensive Piero della Francesca Pilgrimage.  Rourke is currently working on a project based on Charles Baudelaire’s Fleurs du Mal.