Mark Seely (Hale Mark Seely, b. 1981, Utah) is an American artist working in myriad mediums such as painting, poetry, the delicate human condition, and architectural design. Over the last two decades, he has developed and perfected his abstract, expressionist style - integrating acrylic, pastels, watercolor, oils, photography, typography, technology, and other various mixed media elements. 

Over the years, the emotionality of his creations ebbs and flows from soft minimalism to chaotic destruction and back again via portraiture, landscape, and all the space between. Each piece conveys a clear catharsis and provides the observer an opportunity to reconsider stagnant societal assumptions regarding religion, sexuality, and perception of self and others. No subject is off limits; as long as you feel something, his work has succeeded in its intent.

Adopted at the age of 9 months following a traumatic brain injury at the hands of his father, the physical therapies Seely required for recovery were readily provided by his new family and included activities such as painting (under the tutelage of Harold Peterson) and playing the piano (Lacresha Peterson). These monumentally revealed his innate talents and sparked a lifelong love affair with the arts.

As a teenager, Mark was diagnosed with several psychiatric conditions after several subsequent suicide attempts. Several unsuccessful inpatient hospitalizations later, it was his family’s hope that a reformation camp for young men would be helpful. He was sent to Samoa, where he spent the remainder of his youth (and innocence). Advertised as an island dream for rerouting troubled youth, this program was anything but. To put it succinctly, the program was shut down many years later with class action lawsuits from families for wrongful deaths, abuse, and trauma endured by the young men who were subjected to this “reformation.” 

Mark’s ability to transmute his various life experiences onto his canvas is palpable. Some of the work is without argument visceral and physically uncomfortable, while others provide a calm and safe envelopment, and every painting encompasses a lifetime of survival, pain, endurance, beauty, and the depths of experience. 

Strong influences include Franz Klein, Robert Rauschenberg, Francis Bacon, HR Geiger, as well as brutalism, metal, and his never-ending love for history, all culminating in his body of work, which he tirelessly continues to produce.