Biographical Note
Mark Leach paints full time from his studio on the south coast near Rye in Sussex. In the past 20 years his work has been concerned solely with landscape. His aim has been to reach the essential. During this time the work has evolved from large, heavily textured paintings involving many different materials, to his current spare, minimal approach using mainly pastels. The pastel work is now recognised as a leader in the field of contemporary landscape art.
Paintings are exhibited throughout the UK and West End and are held in collections world-wide. Work has been accepted for the RA Summer Show, and he is a regular exhibitor with the Pastel Society at the Mall Galleries. Winner of the 1993 Pastel Society Award, he was elected to full membership in 1994. Other major exhibitions include The Best of British Contemporary Artists at the Roy Miles Gallery in Mayfair. Three paintings were selected for special commendation at the Art Show at Alexander Palace. He was joint winner of the Anthony Lester Award at the 1995 Pastels Today exhibition in London. More recently, three paintings received the Willi Hoffmann-Guth Award for those expressing 'Quality of Light' at the 1996 annual Pastel Society exhibition. Concerned with a similarity of his approach to musical composition, he recently completed a large solo exhibition at the Yehudi Menuhin School. He was elected to the Council of the Pastel Society in 1997, and in 1998 he received the Pastel Society of Canada Annual Award.