Viva Lewes Issue #138 March 2018

THIS MONTH’S COVER ARTIST
This month, local artist Mark Ellender is back
with his third Viva cover, illustrating our theme of
‘independence’. “It’s about going against the tide,
going out on your own, doing things under your
own steam,” he says. “Have you seen the speech
that Steve Jobs gave at Stanford? It’s fantastic – in
a nutshell, it’s all about following your heart and
striking out on your own. I wanted to somehow
put across that entrepreneurial spirit – ‘everything
else is going on over there, but I’m going this way’
– I think that really fits in Lewes.”
We agree, and we love the eclectic mix of images
that Mark’s covers always bring: the Harvey’s
chimney puffing away on top of the man’s hat; the
fish, quite literally, out of water. “A lot of my work
starts as a stream of consciousness,” he explains.
“I just sketch and sketch, and whatever comes out
of that will or won’t find its way into a painting.”
One theme which tends to rear its head fairly frequently
in Mark’s work is Easter Island. “I love
Pacific island art and it’s almost impossible for
that not to show up in everything I do. The masks,
the statues – I remember being struck by them as
a kid, seeing them in National Geographic and just
thinking they were amazing. I’m just absolutely
fascinated by the mystery of how the devil they
got there – some of them are four metres tall!”
Mark finally got to make his trip of a lifetime to
Easter Island back in October; he appeared in the
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