About

Mark Lesser is a painter with over 30 years of experience whose work sits at the intersection of the emotional and the conceptual. Working primarily in oil and cold wax on large-scale canvas, his practice is built on a layered, risk-taking process, one that embraces accumulation, erasure, and the tension between structure and dissolution.

The grid is a recurring presence in his work, not as rigid architecture but as a field of relationships, something to push through, hide beneath, or let fall away entirely.

His career has taken him across disciplines and continents. He completed an artist residency in Morocco, a country whose light, color, and complexity have left a lasting mark on his sensibility, and has exhibited internationally. That same restlessness and curiosity shaped his debut novel, Bank Holiday, an international thriller set in Marrakesh.

In 2026, Mark and his wife Shellie co-founded Stephens Collective, a curated gallery based in Thousand Oaks, California, dedicated to making original art accessible to a new generation of collectors through monthly exhibitions and auctions.

He lives in Thousand Oaks with Shellie and their two dachshunds, Pablo and Penny Lane.
805.601.9875 | mlesser64@gmail.com