Statement
Awarded BADA Art Prize 2023, London Biennale Sculpture Award 2023, The Aesthetica Art Prize Futures 125 2022 & 2024
"Your sculptures look like 3D paintings carved out of the air." - Professor Suzie Hannah - NUA
'it is so soothing and exciting at the same time’, and ‘from the moment I saw your work, I was totally mesmerised. It is the first time a sculpture takes my soul and goes that far. It is a mix between joy, dancing, and being free, in a time that is full of anxiety.’ Collector UK
Artist's Statement
Mark’s practice explores the delicate balance that underpins life—within society, nature, and the philosophical realm. He is fascinated by the way chaos and contrast shape our perceptions and responses, and how tension and harmony, serenity and energy, coexist to reveal the fragility of the world around us. Working across diverse materials and processes, Mark combines traditional craftsmanship with emerging technologies, embracing the challenges this creates for both maker and viewer. His work remains deliberately poised between openness and resolution, inviting multiple interpretations while retaining a sense of completeness.
At first encounter, Mark’s work is often experienced through beauty, wonder, and curiosity. Yet beyond these immediate impressions lies a deeper invitation: to engage with what is felt rather than simply seen. His series The Uncertainty of the Moment examines the fleeting nature of perception. In a fraction of a second, we believe we recognise what we see, yet our understanding is often incomplete. The work reflects on uncertainty and its consequences, acknowledging how ambiguity has become an increasingly significant part of contemporary life.
The act of structuring chaos has been a recurring theme in Mark’s practice since his school years. Today, this enquiry asks how individuals navigate an increasingly fast and complex world. Surrounded by a constant flow of information, opinions, and distractions, how do we determine what is meaningful and worth holding onto? If this challenge is difficult for us, how do younger generations develop the tools to establish their own sense of identity and place within society? Can principles of physics, balance, and stability offer insight into maintaining equilibrium within our own thoughts?
His recent work expands these concerns through an exploration of fragility. It considers how connections between cultures, countries, communities, families, and partnerships can weaken and dissolve despite once appearing strong. Differences in perspective can create division, leaving relationships as tenuous as mycelial networks searching for points of connection. The work asks how we can understand the viewpoints of others while our own beliefs are questioned, and how stability can be maintained amid uncertainty and change.
Throughout these explorations of ambiguity, Mark’s enduring optimism remains central. A sense of hope, joy, and wonder permeates the work through movement, vitality, and the seamless integration of materials. By continually challenging himself through unexpected combinations of processes and materials, he reflects on the need for societies and individuals alike to adapt, connect, and respond to difference, while remaining true to what makes us who we are.
Biography
Mark Purllant is a British sculptor whose innovative practice combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary technologies and materials. In 2023 he was awarded the Sculpture Prize at the London Biennale, a prestigious international exhibition featuring artists from more than 80 countries. Later that year he won the BADA Art Prize, selected by a distinguished panel including sculptor Anish Kapoor CBE, sculptor Philip Jackson, Cartier Foundation founder and president Alain Dominique Perrin, and musician and collector Jools Holland. He was also recognised as one of the Aesthetic Art Prize Futures 125 artists in both 2023 and 2024, helping establish an expanding international audience for his work.
Creativity and making have been central to Purllant’s life from an early age. The son of a craft teacher, he grew up surrounded by tools, materials, and the practical skills of making. Encouraged by his parents to draw and paint, he developed a strong visual language from childhood, recalling drawing his great-grandfather from life while still at primary school.
His artistic path has been anything but conventional. After studying three-dimensional design at university, he found himself increasingly drawn to experiences beyond formal education, travelling extensively and meeting people from diverse backgrounds. These experiences would later become an important influence on his understanding of society, connection, and human behaviour.
Purllant subsequently founded and developed a successful business creating themed environments for leisure destinations across the UK and Europe. Working at pace and across a vast range of materials and techniques, he built a reputation for finding creative solutions to complex design challenges. The experience nurtured both his technical mastery and his willingness to experiment, qualities that continue to define his artistic practice today.
Despite this success, he felt compelled to return to the questions that had always driven him creatively. Completing an MA in Fine Art provided the opportunity to fully explore his artistic voice and develop the conceptual foundations of his work. It was during this period that the themes of balance, uncertainty, fragility, and connection emerged with renewed clarity.
Reflecting on his unconventional journey, Purllant sees no distinction between the experiences of artist, maker, traveller, and entrepreneur. Each has contributed to a practice that is both technically accomplished and conceptually ambitious. He believes that without this varied path, he would not be creating the distinctive and innovative work for which he is increasingly recognised today.