Marc Rivers

My work has been exhibited at various venues, including Modern Art Oxford, South Hill Park Arts Centre, X-Change Gallery and O3 Gallery in the U.K., and in the United States at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colorado, Sweet Art Gallery in Naples, Florida, and SpringBox Gallery in Portland, Oregon. I’ve been funded by the Arts Council of England, Oxford City Council, and the UK Artists’ Development Fund, among others, for residencies, shows and continued work.

My Master’s degree (Distinction) in Contemporary Art and Music and my undergraduate degree in Fine Art (First Class) are from Oxford Brookes University, U.K.

Artist statement

I have discarded any notion that there is a visual fidelity or a universal visual language. We colour the image with our own histories and emotional projections. Without knowing, we turn it into something that, for others, it is not. Enhancing these elements of individual perception is what intrigues me about capturing slices of time in light.

Light Plays, are about freeing light from fixed-form meanings, crafting it into new images of light using the camera as a dancer through time. The images attempt to stimulate an emotional response while not evoking the original object. None of the images are digitally manipulated after the taking of the picture.

Throughout my work in a variety of media, I ask the viewer to interpret, to revisit every-day experiences with new focus, and to think about the mind’s diverse means of perceiving. Because I ask viewers to actively interpret and experience my work, the viewing completes the work. I could not conceive of my art practice without that engagement. In addition to photography shown on this site, I work with various lens- and sound-based media to create installations. Please see marcrivers.co.uk.

 

CV

Photography Exhibitions and Shows

Frame Central. Featured Artist. “Fine Art Photography”, Beaverton, USA June 2015.

Open Studio. 85×102. “Recent works”. Portland, USA. December 2014.

Starbucks. “People and Landscapes in Oregon”, Portland, USA. March – April, 2013

Open Studio. “People and Landscapes in Oregon”. Cathedral Park Place, Portland, USA. December 2012.

Springbox Gallery. Solo Exhibition. “Light Plays: Selected Works” Portland, USA, Feb – March 2011.

Art-File Gallery. “Light Plays” represented at Affordable Art Fair, London, UK. March, 2010.

The Long Gallery. Group show. “Light Plays: Selected works”. The Old Palace, Ely, Cambridge, UK. August 2009.

“Looking Up From”. Group show. “Light Plays: Selected works”. London. July – Aug 2009.

Ovenden Contemporary Arts. Group show. “Light Plays: Untitled C.” Finalist in “Needhams Open 2009, Cambridge, UK. April – May 2009.

Modern Art Oxford. Group show. “Light Plays: Esta Noche 07”, “Oxford Open”, Oxford, UK. January – February 2008.

Sweet Art Gallery. Group show. “Light Plays: Selected Works.” Naples Florida, USA. Jan – Feb 2008.

O3 Gallery. Solo exhibition. “Light Plays: Removing Light from Fixed-form Meanings”. Oxford, UK. 
October – November, 2007.

Center for Fine Art Photography. Juried show, On the Road. “Two ladies on the road.” Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. February – March 2006.

 

Light and Sound Installations

South Hill Park Arts Center. Group show. “Other Spaces”. Virtual camera obscura installation, exhibited with “Counter Photography: Japan’s Artists Today.” Bracknell, UK. May – June 2005.

South Hill Park Arts Center. Group show. “Iconoclastic Veneration.” Visual perception interaction. “Children’s International Arts Festival”, Bracknell, UK, 
June 2005.

The Old Dairy. Solo site-specific installation. “Watershed.” Interactive light and sound installation/sculpture. Headington Hill Park, Oxford, UK. September – October 2004.

Modern Art Oxford. Group show. “Other spaces” Installation. Part of the exhibition, “Brookes Contemporary”, Oxford, UK. February 2004

OVADA. Solo installation. “Other spaces” Installation. Oxford, UK. November, 2003

Oxford Brookes University. Group Show. “Shadow Chi,” a moving Image and Sound Installation, in “OX1: A Festival of Vibrations and Oscillations”, Oxford, UK. Oct 2001.

 

Commissions, Fellowships, Residencies

Nike, Inc. Commission. Six “Light Plays” for a Nike Global event. Portland, April 2013.

Oxford Brookes University. Commission. “Light Plays: Esta Noche 07”, as a leaving gift for the chancellor Jon Snow,
11th July 2008.

Oxford City Council and OVADA. Residency. Two-month artist-in-residency at The Old Dairy Oxford City Council. 2004.

Arts Council of England. Fellowship for the works: “Other Spaces”, “Reflections”, “Skein”, and “Fundus”. 2003.

Oxford City Council. Fellowship for same. 2003.

Oxford Visual Arts and Development Agency. Fellowship for same. 2003.

 

Teaching

Oxford Brookes University. Acting Head of Photography. Sept 2009 – July 2010.

Private Classical Guitar Teaching. 1999-2010.

Oxford Brookes University. Teaching Assistant. Black and White Darkroom Techniques: Undergraduate classes. Sept 2004 – July 2005.

Berkshire School of Rock and Pop. Rock Guitar. 1997-1999.

 

Education

Oxford Brookes University. MA Contemporary Art and Music. Distinction. 2005.

Oxford Brookes University. BA Arts, (Honours) Fine Art. First Class. 2002.

John Brookes Memorial Prize (for scholarly achievement), 2002.

Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, 2000.

 

Other

Grade 8 Classical Guitar

Sound Engineer to live band tours across the UK. 1985-1999.