I just had coffee with my old friend Mark Rogers the painter. Afterwards I was looking at some of his artwork from his website, and I got pretty excited about it and wanted to share it here with you guys I think readers of this blog will appreciate his paintings.

Mark’s work is on display right now at the Pony Club Gallery in Portland and if you have a chance to check it out in person I highly recommend it.

Early Energy Transfer

The internet can’t do justice to how gorgeous these large oil paintings are in person. His current work has an interesting take on the little green men and UFO’s juxtaposing them with the iconography of pilgrims and earlyAmerican Protestant culture.

The Blessing

This alternative history calls to mind interesting questions and ideas about not only UFO’s but American history, religious iconography, and historical stories. It is art that is both provocative and fun as hell to look at!

Here is a piece that Mark is currently working on. Mark is an entirely self-taught artist. Which, I think, is the best kind. Too often would be artists (this goes for writers as well as visual artists) have their creativity stifled by too much formal training.

Crystal Communion

What is interesting about this juxtaposition of the UFO-ology and the pilgrim characters is it creates a paradoxical vision that ends up being much more interesting than either would be on their own.

A Demonstration in Psychic Summoning

Mark Rogers is an old friend of mine, we met back in college. But even if I didn’t know him at all I would say this artist is definitely someone to watch, and I am looking forward to where he goes with his strange visions next. (Also I really need to get one of these paintings to hang in my study!)