Photo by Jerry Ranch
STATEMENT
I’m a fine art photographer using digital photography to document common things and common spaces in unexpected ways. I present my work on gallery wrapped canvasses to slow the viewer down to consider what they’re seeing while elevating the perceived value as an art object rather than a simple print.
My work invites viewers to linger awhile, giving them time for contemplation, to tap into memory or imagination to find an answer, complete the story, and learn to see differently.
Bio
Mark True’s artistic journey began with acrylic painting and then, assemblages of found objects in the spirit of Robert Rauschenberg. Today, he works primarily in photography, documenting unexpected compositions of common things and common places, encouraging viewers to linger awhile, giving them time to contemplate what they’re looking at, to tap into their memory or imagination to find an answer or complete the story.
His work has been juried into group exhibitions at the Polk County Heritage Gallery, the Ankeny Art Center, the Octagon (Ames, Iowa), and Kavanaugh Gallery (St. Charles, Illinois). He has mounted solo exhibitions at the Ankeny Art Center (2018), the Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge (2022), the Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield (2023), and Art Farm Iowa (Northwood, Iowa) (2024). He also collaborated with fiction writer Al Kratz on a two-person exhibit pairing single images with short stories, which was shown at the Johnston Public Library (2024) and Simpson College (2025).
Beyond his own art practice, True has contributed to Iowa’s arts community as the founder and past president of the North River Arts Council, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting artists and expanding access to the arts in Warren County, Iowa. True was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Iowa. He studied journalism at Iowa State University and has spent much of the last 40 years as a writer, photographer, graphic designer, and brand consultant.
CONTACT
If you’d like to talk about photography or art, or commission a project, please contact Mark at 515.822.3706 or email marktruephoto@gmail.com.