Luxury leather art from Welsh pioneering artist Mark Evans

This is Mark Evans, a Welsh artist who creates the most spectacular pieces, Luxury leather art that is appearing in luxury homes and hotels all over the world. His work can now be found in some of the world`s leading collections, and ranges in price from £60,000 – £450,000. Collectors include the Lebanese art collector Ahmed Tayeb, Simon Cowell and many other international collectors.

Evans, who claims he has `lived leather for the past decade`, is passionate about the primordial, raw appeal of leather. `Leather was once a living, breathing creature and I`m cutting through the skin, marking the flesh.`
In contrast to working with artificial, manmade materials such as paint, he describes the visceral, primal experience of working with leather `I cut through the waxy, polished surface of the hide to reveal what`s really going on beneath the faǟ¶õade. I`m searching, aiming for something from below the surface. I guess I`m reaching for something magnificent. I`m trying to get under the skin.`

In a world that is dominated by synthetic and digital technology, Evans believes in the authenticity of leather, which relates to our primal, hunter/gatherer roots. He believes that genuine, hand-crafted work is having a zeitgeist moment.

As Tracy Emin, a great fan of his work states `It`s great to meet an artist with a serious well-honed craft under his belt. So many artists don`t have this, they don`t invest the necessary years to train and to learn. I love my embroidery, I can always fall back on it – and obviously he loves his knives.`

His work now centres on human behaviour, life and death: obsession with money, greed, and empowerment. He is currently working on a 50 square meter installation, his largest piece to date, which was commissioned by a prestigious Asian hotel.