Mark Rayner

Whanganui

Mark Rayner began working in ceramics in 2003 and has produced numerous works for local and national exhibitions since. In August 2007, he and his brother Paul opened Rayner Brothers Gallery in Whanganui, where they show their own work along with guest artists.

Rayner’s glazed plates and figurines are a modern and playful take on the grotesque; a style characterised by exaggeration, excess, the fantastic and sometimes the abject. In recent years, Rayner has begun to work across a variety of other media, including photography and latch hook rugs. He explores unlikely juxtapositions between medium and subject, playing with traditional craft techniques to create objects and images that can be alternately construed at frightening, beguiling and absurd. Through his art, Rayner explores politics, popular culture and all things weird and wonderful. His works are often abjectly humorous, alluring and addictive to collect.