Khaisman, Mark

Odessa Steps Revisited 1, 2009
Backlit packaging tape on acrylic panel
27 x 40 x 6 in
Odessa Steps Revisited 2, 2009
Backlit packaging tape on acrylic panel
27 x 40 x 6 in
Odessa Steps Revisited 3, 2009
Backlit packaging tape on acrylic panel
27 x 40 x 6 in
Tape Noir 38/42, 2012
Packaging tape on acrylic panel
with translucent resin light box
40.5 x 27 x 6 in
Tape Noir 36/73, 2012
Packaging tape on acrylic panel
with translucent resin light box
40.5 x 27 x 6 in
Tape Noir 39/61, 2012
Packaging tape on acrylic panel
with translucent resin light box
40.5 x 27 x 6 in

Mark Khaisman was born in 1958, Kiev (Ukraine).

Mark studied art and architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute and has worked for several decades in architecture, animation, and stained glass design. 


He began exhibiting his tape works in 2005.  Mark has been the recipient of many awards and works are found in the collections of: Brandywine Trust Collection, Philadelphia; British Airline Collection, London; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington; NBC Collection, New York;  Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany; West Collection, Philadelphia, and more.


Artist Statement:

My works are pictorial illusions formed by light and shadow. I render images by layering strips of translucent packing tape and applying them to backlit acrylic sheets. About ten years ago I started experimenting with it, melting my experience in architecture together with the stained glass practice. An architect in me busy constructing and calculating while a stained glass artist fusing with light. My image building demands managing the scale, figuring out ratios, counting layers while controlling intensity of light. “Wide brush” of tape contributes to recognizable resemblance using light and dark tones while leaving out detail. I try to keep everything under control but lose awareness in the process so by the time the piece is finished I don't exactly know how it has happened. A viewer perceives image through layers of tape, comprehending my work process step-by-step, seeing past applications of overlapping bands of tape. An eye lingers over smooth surface of work at the points where underlying layers are exposed, and a viewer may wander at which point the surface becomes the image. The work thus represents visualization of the act of becoming, where it remains possible to experience process of artistic creation in real time.