Art

Item Description

"Neigborhood Scribes" (2008) is an acrylic painting on multimedia art board by Mark Ulriksen that was commissioned to accompany a piece in The New Yorker by Ian Frazier.

Frazier's original article--"Hungry Minds"--can be read here.

The painting depicts a writing workshop that Frazier taught at New York City's largest soup kitchen at the Church of the Holy Apostles.  

Dimensions: 9 3/4" x 13" 

Mark Ulriksen is a San Francisco-based artist and illustrator whose instantly recognizable portraits and whimsical take on life have led to projects for a variety of major clients. He specializes in figurative work that blends humor and darkness with psychological insight. After initially working for 13 years as a graphic designer and magazine art director, Mark went through a relatively early mid-life crisis and gave up a world of monthly deadlines for a world of weekly ones, pursuing a new career as a freelance illustrator and artist.

His editorial illustration work began in the mid-nineties, and since then his paintings have appeared in many of America's leading magazines and newspapers. Ulriksen is best known for his work for The New Yorker, where he has been a regular contributor since 1993, with more than 30 magazine covers to his credit.

Mark's varied interests are often the subjects of his acrylic paintings, be they politics or dogs, people or sports. He covered the 2008 Masters for Golf Digest and has created murals for United Airlines and the Chicago Bears that grace the walls of the United Club at Soldier Field. His dog prints adorn the halls of Kaiser Permanente hospitals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the regular illustrator for the San Francisco Jazz Festival, as well as a children's book illustrator, and the recipient of numerous awards, including Gold and Silver medals from the NY Society of Illustrators. His 2006 New Yorker cover parody of the film Brokeback Mountain was named the year's top magazine news cover by the Magazine Publishers of America. Ulriksen's work is in the permanent collection of The Smithsonian and the Library of Congress.

Mark now balances his time between illustration assignments, children's books, gallery work and private commissions, primarily family portraits and dog portraits.