Bio

Born in 1958 in Columbus, Ohio, Mark Doox considers art, in one form or another, to have saved his inner life, sanity, and even physical life by keeping him out of trouble, providing an alternative to running the dead-end streets as a youth, and encouraging his intellectual (and even nascent spiritual) growth in a broken household with a single mother and two other siblings in the highly segregated 1960s.

Growing up in an essentially impoverished and segregated community, Mark was surprised to win an ABC (A Better Chance) scholarship. This scholarship offered gifted and needy students a chance at a better education through a scholarship to a private or select public (white) school. The culture shock of moving from an inner-city, segregated environment to a predominantly white, elite educational setting opened his eyes to the profound social divides in America.

After high school, Mark served four years in the U.S. Army. Upon returning, he used the GI Bill to attend the Columbus College of Art and Design art school. This period marked a significant shift in his life, as he began honing his artistic Identity while grounding his work in the challenging personal realities that had shaped his worldview.

After being introduced to spirituality, meditation, and yoga through a class on creativitMark'sk's interest was piqued, eventually sending him on a spiritual quest to ashrams and monasteries. As a novice monk and convert to the Russian Orthodox Church, Mark discovered the rich artistic world of Byzantine iconography and created his first icons at the monastery. Although he did not feel called to be an official monk, he realized he had a calling to explore further the Byzantine art tradition and spirituality in his own way. He eventually established himself as an iconographer, creating innovative religious icons for two high-profile and celebrated progressive churches in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In his artistic development, the melding of Byzantine and Dadaist influences (Byz Dada)—became an essential strategy for addressing the existential complexities of his life. It provided him with an approach—a way to express the tension between the marginalized experience of his youth, the greater understanding of his introduction to the white privilege he experienced in high school, and his adult world where his past, present, and future collided. Over time, his work evolved to address his personal experiences and broader historical, psycho-social, and existential issues affecting Americans of African descent. Themes of race, spirituality, and the consequences of group systemic oppression and social denial began to take root in his artistic preoccupation and artistic practice, driven by the disparities and contradictions he encountered throughout his life.

Through this journey, he realized that art could be more than just an outlet for personal reflection; it could also serve as a form of social commentary and resistance. By blending narrative elements, historical references, and spiritual iconography in his Byz Dada style, Mark aims to create works that challenge viewers to confront sometimes uncomfortable truths about race, Identity, and power in American history. His commitment to addressing these existential themes head-on aims to explore deep cultural and historical issues while inviting reflection, conversation, and healing.