For this exhibition of over 20 works on paper, Kelly Mark utilizes the now-outdated graphic design tool of dry transferable lettering and patterns known as “Letraset” named after its manufacturer. Popular with designers in the 1970s and 80s, Letraset transfer sheets were available in a large range of typefaces, symbols, graphic elements, and patterns. These graphic elements were transferred to paper by hand-rubbing the vinyl forms down in order to simulate typeset headlines or to add patterns to illustrations. Although still available, this tool has largely been replaced by digital design and the computer.

Kelly takes on the tedious task of rubbing down forms, shapes, patterns, and lettering from scores of Letraset sheets to create complex “drawings” which are rigorous and boldly graphic. Kelly says, “I have always had an intense preoccupation with the differing shades of pathos and humour found in the repetitive mundane tasks, routines and rituals of everyday life. Hidden within these spans of time can be found startling moments of poetic individuation, and an imprint of the individual within the commonplace rituals of society….”

“Kelly Mark’s Letraset ‘drawings’ are compositions of meticulously arranged transfer lettering on mount board. The black and white designs are ambiguous and suggest an unseen source material such as aerial mapping, sewing patterns or convoluted text-based bar code. More graphic and formally driven than her other work, they allow her the pleasure of making and designing in a dynamic and architectural way.”
–Terri Whitehead: Kelly Mark, Art Review Magazine (UK)

“Kelly Mark’s work using Letraset seems to represent a dynamic dance and swirl of letters, moving across page and frame to frame. While the individual pieces can stand alone, they are arranged as polyptychs and the line around which the marks are organizes flow from from one panel to the other. There is a dynamic machinery here, and the fontography, by its black and white and serifed nature, reminds me of the early century's dynamic steam machines, which inspired Duchamp to abandon paintings of traditional subject matter in favour of engineered renderings of chocolate-grinders and the hormonal process of love as if mediated by particles of malic-moulded matter.”
–Timothy Comeau: Alphabetics, Blog TO

Kelly lives and works in Toronto. She has exhibited widely across Canada and internationally (including the United States, Australia, and Europe). Exhibition venues include: The National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON), The Power Plant (Toronto, ON), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC), Saidye Bronfman Art Center (Montreal, QC), ZieherSmith Gallery (New York, NY), Museum of New Art (Detroit, MI), University of Houston (Houston, TX), Real Art Ways (Hartford, CT), Ikon Gallery (Birmingham, UK), Lisson Gallery (London, UK), and the Physics Room (Christchurch, NZ). She represented Canada in both the 1998 Sydney Biennale and the 2006 Liverpool Biennial. In Seattle, her work has be exhibited at the Henry Art Gallery and her last solo show at Platform was in 2008.