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Born in 1949 in Boston, MA, United States


1979, M.F.A., University of New Mexico

1973, M.A., University of Illinois

1970, B.A., Cornell University



"By combining tree images with geometric abstraction, my paintings reference mankind's intrusions in the natural environment. This encounter is echoed in the formal dichotomies of surface versus space, thick paint surfaces versus thin ones, organic versus geometric shapes, and smooth versus rough textures. I paint several layers of hot-wax encaustic paint over an oil underlayer and then apply heat and scrape paint away to reveal underlying passages.

I work with both oil and encaustic paint. Encaustic painting is an ancient and highly permanent technique in which the vehicle or binder is beeswax. Unlike linseed oil or synthetic resin (e.g. acrylic) binders which dry to harden, the beeswax is heated until molten, mixed with dry pigments to make paint, and, when applied to the painting, cools and hardens instantly. When the painting is completed, the entire surface is reheated to fuse the layers and bond them to the support. This is called burning-in, which is the literal meaning of encaustic.

Although the surface is not as tough as an oil film, encaustic paintings do not darken or yellow with age. Portraits made in the Fayoum district of Egypt as early as the 1st century A.D. are as fresh as if they were painted yesterday. The adhesive qualities of wax also make it an ideal medium for collage. "

Mark Lavatelli, October 2005

  • Solo Exhibitions
  • 2004: Buffalo Arts Studio, Buffalo, NY, "Treescapes"

  • 2002: Bryant Street Studios, Buffalo, NY, "Recent Encaustic Paintings"

  • 2000:
  • PaintingsDIRECT.com Featured Artist

  • Olean Public Library Gallery, Olean, NY, Mark Lavatelli: Recent Paintings

  • 1999: Biac's World Bistro, Buffalo, NY, Ten-year Mini-retrospective at Biac's

  • 1996: Castellani Art Museum, Niagara University, NY, Glade: New Paintings by Mark Lavatelli

  • 1993: Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY, Recent Work

  • 1992: Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, Junctures

  • 1991: Calumet Gallery, Buffalo, NY, True Gravity

  • 1989: Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, Recent Paintings

  • 1987: The Watson Gallery, Houston, TX, Mark Lavatelli

  • 1986: Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, Recent Paintings/Works on Paper

  • 1984: Eastfield College, Dallas, TX, Recent Work

  • 1982: Mattingly Baker Gallery, Dallas, TX, Mainstream Abstractions

  • 1980: White Oak Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, Psychic Landscapes

  • Selected Group Exhibitions
  • 2003: Adams Art Gallery, Dunkirk, NY, "A Walk in the Wood"

  • 2001: Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, "Rochester - Finger Lakes Exhibition"

  • 2000: Permanent installation at Medaille College, Buffalo, NY, "Buffalo Branchsite"

  • 1999: Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY, Relics and Icons: Hallwalls 1999 Members Show

  • 1998: Medaille College, Buffalo, NY, Nature Interpreted

  • 1997: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, In Western New York

  • 1996:
  • Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, 46th Western New York Exhibition

  • Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, 1996 Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition

  • 1995:
  • Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, Mark Lavatelli, Sherry Owens, Reinhard Ziegler

  • Missouri Western State College, St. Joseph, MO, Polly Little and Mark Lavatelli: Paintings, Drawings, Prints

  • Nieman-Marcus, IBM, ARCO, Pepsico, USWest, Dupont, Penta Hotel, Texas Instruments, Green Collections, Trans World Corp., Club Corporation of America; Frito-Lay, Societe General, Post Oak Bank, Mountain Bell, Southeast Banking, Interfirst Bank, Southwestern Bell, Medaille College, University of New Mexico Fine Arts Museum, First National Bank of Chicago, Tam Brands, Western Savings Corp., Illinois Bank and Trust

    • Selection of paintings from Mark Lavatelli

    Read the guestbook of Mark Lavatelli

    Sign the guestbook of Mark Lavatelli

  • Artist Residency, Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, Taos, 2004

  • Special Opportunity Stipend, NY Foundation for the Arts, 1999

  • 1st Prize, Lamplighter's Auction, Dallas, TX, 1990

  • 1st Prize, Festival of Lights 6th Annual Juried Show, Niagara Power Project, Niagara Falls, NY, 1989

  • Top Award, National Juried Exhibition, Clary-Miner Gallery, Buffalo, NY, 1988

  • Merit Award, 14th Annual TFAA Spring Art Exhibition at ARCO Tower, Dallas, TX, 1987


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  • Bruce Adams. "Out on a Limb." The Buffalo News. March 15, 2002

  • Huntington, Richard. "Three Artists in the Modernist Vein, One Making Myth from Experience." The Buffalo News. April 28, 1998. p.C6.

  • Licata, Elizabeth. "At Medaille: Four on Form." Artvoice. April 22-28, 1998. p.12.

  • Huntington, Richard. "For Mark Lavatelli, a branch of abstraction." Buffalo Daily News. December 28, 1996. p.86.

  • Kutner, Janet. "Deep Ellum Expatriates." Dallas Morning News. April 24, 1989. p.5C, 10C.

  • Wilson, Wade. "Unsettling Mindscapes." Dallas Art Revue. Spring 1987. p.3.

  • Govenar, Alan and Jody. "Combination Images and Mainstream Abstractions." Artspace. Winter 1982-83. p.57.

  • Kutner, Janet. "Acquisitions Are Only Part of the Action." ArtNews. December, 1982. p.86.