Mark Younkle

Mark Younkle
Studio 324
markyounkle@gmail.com

Mark Younkle is frequently referred to as an “artist’s artist” by his peers. The obvious
antecedents for his work are the collages of Kurt Schwitters and Hannah Höch, as well
as the lesser known, but similarly framed artist’s artists Anne Ryan and Hannelore
Barron. But Younkle brings his own twist to the medium of collage. He is drawn to
material nearing obsolescence, former emblems of our rapidly changing culture. One
can look at his work and recognize telltale words from derailed personal journals,
unsent letters and typewritten poems, as well as autobiographical ephemera such as
dated travel itineraries and entertainment ticket stubs. He reconstructs an identity
through his collages. The viewer is guided through the assembled material by its
internal logic, which frequently evokes circuitry or knotted and entwined geometrics —
choked and claustrophobic spaces on the verge of imploding.

As a Traveling Scholar from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Mark Younkle has
exhibited his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He has also been invited to
show his work at other museums in New England, including the Fitchburg Art Museum,
and the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University. His work is in the
permanent collection of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York City. He has
exhibited widely in galleries in the greater Boston area, including the Krakow Witkin
Gallery, Hallspace, the Chandler Gallery at Maud Morgan Arts, and the Mills Gallery at
Boston Center for the Arts. His work has recently been included in online exhibitions at
the Jason McCoy Gallery and Denise Bibro Fine Art, both in New York City, and at
Salem State University. He is the recipient of a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural
Council.