Mark Flake
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Mark Flake born in Memphis Tn, 1960. Mark Flake is a painter, sculptor and avant garde musician. His surreal and expressionistic oil paintings have been exhibited across the United States, and his graphic art appears on album and compact disc covers throughout the States and in Europe and Australia, primarily on releases from the Wood Records [1] avant garde and outsider music label which he founded, and with which he has an on and off again relationship. His paintings have been compared stylistically to those of the [German Expressionists] and to the Surrealists, particularly to works by George Grosz and Max Ernst. They can also be characterized by a rich impasto and muted colors, particularly black and white mixed with earth tones. His sculptural works are mainly found object pieces in the manner of Marcel Duchamp and temporary installations reminiscent of the Fluxus movement. The content of his art, particularly his early work, has primarily focused on a unique ability to find beauty and hidden meaning in the mediocre and banal. His more recent work, since 2000, has been somewhat more colorful, more overtly political, and harsher in tone.
As a musician, he appears on more than fifty albums and compact discs, usually recording under the name MWF, his initials, but he has also been identified under his own name and a variety of other names. His early releases were homemade cassette tapes released by his own cassette only label, Wyndam Garage. In 1999, he founded Wood Records and gave compact disc releases of his back catalog, and has continued to release his own works at the rate of approximately two discs per year. The music runs through a wide variety of stylistic categories that include everything from folk and experimental rock to avant garde jazz, punk and noise to serious chamber compositions and music concrete. He is also known for a number of albums that parody other styles including heavy metal and hip-hop. Radio Revolution described his work as "the perfect blend of Leonard Cohen and Captain Beefheart", but he has most often been compared to the Residents and to Frank Zappa. His Wood Records music label has given release to albums by many artists from the U.S. and Europe, most notably Sweden's Johnny J and Italy's LAM. Flake has also appeared on a variety of tribute albums from other labels such as Blod Records of Canada's Tribute to the Eighties and a recent Roky Erikson tribute- again under the name MWF.
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