Mark Mawson's interview

Could you describe in your own words your artistic practice? What makes a Mark Mawson work of art?

I have an advertising work side and an art side to my work. It involves shooting paints, oils, and inks in tanks of water or in petri dishes - so it's usually macro work. It's a very organic process, it does its own thing: each one is unique; you can't replicate it exactly each time.

I think I'd consider myself more of a traditional artist than digital. Although I am shooting digitally, I'm still working with a camera and lighting the same way I used to on film. So I don't really consider myself a digital artist particularly. I've always thought of these creations as being abstract, though there are some more figurative ones, too. Sometimes movements resemble creatures, sea creatures, or some far-off alien landscape… But I think my work is definitely more abstract.

What liquids do you actually work with, and how do you create these works?

Everything varies depending on the effect I'm trying to achieve. It can be water-soluble paint, oil paint, other oils like vegetable oils, or inks. There's another process that involves "ferrofluid," which is like a thick magnetic oil. It really depends on what I'm doing, but generally, all these liquids are being dropped into water: I use a pipette and just pour drops into it.

The tools also change depending on the scale I'm shooting at. Sometimes, if it's very small, I use pipettes or syringes with needles. Sometimes, if it's a big tank, I'm literally pouring big jugs of paint into water. It can range from really tiny to quite a big volume.

I use slow motion a lot of the time for paint dropping into a tank and forming clouds, because it happens very quickly. On the other hand, the process in petri dishes is generally not slow motion, sometimes it even needs to be sped up to show the reactions.

When I'm working with a petri dish, I'm usually using a syringe with a needle, placing very small droplets just into the surface and letting them expand. In those cases, it's usually a chemical reaction happening between the different liquids. So it all happens on the surface or just below it.

Sometimes you'll rework your videos afterwards (the kaleidoscope effect, for example). What motivates that choice? And more broadly, how much control and intention goes into a work? Do you have a clear idea of what you want before you start, or do you let things unfold naturally?

I'm usually following the aesthetics and trying to do something different. Not everything works for a kaleidoscope, so if something does work, I'll play around with it in post-production.

As for control, it really depends on whether I have a definite brief. Sometimes a client wants the paint to drop very narrowly down the frame, so you have to pour it in a certain way so it doesn't billow out and fill the whole frame. There are definitely specific techniques depending on what we're trying to achieve. Other times, if I'm shooting personal work, I just see what happens naturally. And sometimes things take you by surprise, "happy accidents" as they say.

It's definitely a case of co-creating with the elements, because they have a massive effect on what happens. I'm not entirely in control.

How did you get into this? What was the initial motivation?

I think it goes back to chemistry class at school. I loved all the chemical reactions we used to experiment with, so I'd say it stems from those days.

The idea was in my head for a long time before I actually produced it. It started from watching milk being poured into coffee and that got me thinking… I'd seen lots of ink-in-water work done before, but that wasn't really what I wanted. I wanted something that creates a thick body moving within the water. So, I experimented with paints, and the first time I did it, it was really cool. I just carried on from there and it's become my thing. I just love the beauty of the forms they create, the way things swirl together, the way red and blue make purple… It has a very peaceful and calming quality to it all.

Could you speak a little more about your choice of colors?

I use very rich colors, and the lighting plays a big role too. I tend to shoot on a black velvet background a lot, which really helps the colors pop. My choice of colors depends a lot on my mood. I prepare color palettes, and it really comes down to how I'm feeling on the day. It's not a very conscious decision - it's just whatever seems to come together at the time.

How does your process differ when creating for yourself versus for a client? And when things don't go as planned, how do you know when to stop, or when a work just isn't right?

The main difference is the scale. For commercial work, I'm usually using much bigger tanks and working with a big crew, whereas for my own work it's generally just me. Big tanks are cumbersome, they need time to be emptied, cleaned, and refilled between each shot, which is more work than people might imagine. For commissions, I generally set out with one specific idea and work towards it. But often I'll also capture things I wasn't expecting, which I can use for something else later.

With personal work, there are times when it just doesn't seem to be working for me. Sometimes my mindset isn't quite right for that day, or I'm hoping for something really striking and it's just not happening. Other times, I'll come back to a project later and think, actually, it wasn't that bad and it could be used for this or that. Commission work is different: we know what we want, and we get it. But when you're pushing the boundaries and experimenting, and it's not quite going where you hoped, you just have to keep going.

Ultimately, it comes down to feeling. Sometimes the colors just don't do what I was hoping. Focus is another factor : when you pour in the paint it moves very quickly, so you have to prefocus the camera. If the best part of what's forming isn't quite in focus, you have to let it go, even if it looked really beautiful. That can be disappointing.

When someone views your artworks, what reaction or feeling do you hope to evoke?

A bit of a wow factor. Generally people go, "Oh wow, isn't it beautiful?" or "That looks so cool." That's the kind of reaction I'm after. But each person also sees something different - it's a bit like looking at clouds, where one person sees a rabbit and another sees something else entirely. A reaction I find really interesting is when someone says "that looks like this" or "that reminds me of that," and I hadn't even thought of it myself. That's really cool. It's nice when every person brings their own interpretation to it.