Kelly Mark (b. 1967, d. 2025) was a conceptual artist who lived and worked in Toronto. She was known for isolating moments of the everyday in ways that were unpretentious and unglamorous but full of warmth, ritual, and wit. Time, duration, measurement, and process are essential focal points in Mark’s multidisciplinary practice. Time’s governance of our reality, especially its undeniable grasp over working-class experiences, is a central concern in her oeuvre. Mark’s practice is embodied in a variety of media such as sculpture, video, installation, drawing, photography, sound, multiples, performance & public interventions.
Her work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada and abroad, including The National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto), Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), The Darling Foundry (Montréal), Musee d’Art Contemporain (Montréal); MSVU Art Gallery (Halifax), Bass Museum (Miami), University of Houston (Texas), Real Art Ways (Hartford), The Henry Art Gallery (Seattle), Ikon Gallery (UK), Dundee Contemporary Arts (Scotland), The Physics Room (NZ), Netwerk Centre for Contemporary Art (Belgium). Mark represented Canada at the Liverpool Biennale in 2006 and the Sydney Biennale in 1998. She was also a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award in 2002. Notable public collections include The National Gallery of Canada, The Canada Council Art Bank, Art Gallery of Ontario, and Global Affairs Canada. She is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
The Estate of Kelly Mark is represented by Olga Korper Gallery.
Exhibitions
- 2026
Reminds Me of Home
2025Everything & Nothing
2024Where We Left Off
2024Summer Group Exhibition
2024Winter Group Exhibition
2023Pattern Play
202350th Anniversary Group Show
2022It's Not Fair
2021I have nothing more to say
2021Starting Over...Again
News Stories
- Toronto Star: The best art of 2025 in Toronto
- Momus: Remembering Kelly Mark
- Remembering Canadian artist Kelly Mark, the ‘working class conceptualist,’ by Dave Dyment for CBC Arts
- In Loving Memory: Kelly Mark (1967-2025)
- “ART + TYPO” by Angela Grauerholz and Robert Fones at UQAM Centre de design and VOX centre de l’image contemporaine
- Winter White at Olga Korper Gallery
Available Artworks
The Kiss (Light Box), 2009
Kelly Markarchival durotrans print mounted into aluminum light box with LED’s, edition of 5 +2AP, 24" x 32" x 5"
artwork detail
Day In & Day Out (diptych), 2018
Kelly Markarchival ink jet on Hahnemuhle photo rag, ed. of 3 64” x 37.5”
Memento Mori, 2017
Kelly Marklost cast bronze with liver of sulfur patina, ed. of 10 8” dia. x 1.75”
The Kiss, 2007
Kelly MarkTwo-channel video/sculpture, edition of 3 + 1AP, two 13" CRT Televisions, custom made plinth, 55" x 22" x 14"
artwork detail
GDS Vase Studies I, 2005
Kelly Mark8B graphite pencils on wood and matte spray varnish 12.5” x 7.5” x 7.5”
GDS Vase Studies II, 2005
Kelly Mark8B graphite pencils on wood and matte spray varnish 12” x 5.75” x 5.75”
GDS Vase Studies III, 2005
Kelly Mark8B graphite pencils on wood and matte spray varnish 12.5” x 5.5” x 5.5”
GDS Vase Studies IIII, 2005
Kelly Mark8B graphite pencils on wood and matte spray varnish 12.5” x 5” x 5”
GDS: Drawing of a Limited Edition Collector Plate Series, 2005
Kelly Mark8B graphite pencils on wood with matte spray varnish 13” diameter (each)
It’s Just One God Damn Thing After Another, 2009
Kelly Markwater-jet cut powder-coated aluminum, ed. of 5 +2AP, 47" diameter x 0.25" depth
Knife Collection, 1995 - 2002
Kelly Markstainless steel knives, stainless steel magnetic knife strips, 55" x 113" x 0.5"
I don’t want to play this game anymore...2025
Kelly Markarchival pigment ink print, edition of 58 +2AP, 39” x 24” paper
Staff (Jacket), 2003
Kelly Markembroidered nylon jacket dimensions variable. Jackets were worn during Kelly Mark’s public performance/intervention: “Staff” (2003).
Security (Jacket), 2003
Kelly Markembroidered nylon jacket dimensions variable. Jackets were worn during Kelly Mark’s public performance/intervention: “Security” (2003).
artwork detail
I Love Love Songs...But Angry Music Makes Me Happy, 2017
Kelly Marksingle-channel video with reverse loop, ed. of 5 6 minutes
Smoke Buddies 2 & 1, 2017
Kelly Markpigment ink on archival rag paper (diptych), unique 18.75" x 32.75"
Smoke Buddies 3 & 4, 2017
Kelly Markpigment ink on archival rag paper (diptych), unique 18.75" x 32.75"
Everything & Nothing Between Us, 2017
Kelly Marksilkscreen letterpress paper, ed. of 25 33.5” x 25.5”
For Some Reason I Have Two Copies Of This Book (Text-Book Series), 2017
Kelly Markpaper, unlimited edition 5.5” x 8” x 1”