Space 1026 and Mark Price are a partnership born to push boundaries.

By Cerulla Daemon

It’s maybe the best use of a single word ever — SPACE.

The artists’ collective known as Space 1026 occupies the two floors above a storefront at 1026 Arch Street in Philly’s Chinatown district. Crammed into that physical space are the studios of nearly 30 artists, with room left over for a substantial gallery space, printmaking and darkroom facilities, anchored by a communal sofa rivaled only by the one in HBO’s “The Wire.”

Every imaginable inch of wall space — doors included — is covered with wheatpasted examples of artwork created by its members over the group’s 11-year history. The installations in the gallery soar up into a vaulted ceiling. These revolving shows are not just for members’ single or even collaborative artwork. Friends or other artists are invited to share in the chosen theme.

1026 artists are not interested in pushing the envelope. They unfold, unglue, even shred it and then reconstruct it into a completely new conception.

Locating in Philadelphia was a gamble when a handful of RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) graduates looking for cheap rents staked their ground in 1997 in a city not known as a hotbed for cutting edge art. The collective proved that a shared commitment to serious art with no rules attracts attention. Individually or in various groups, the members are invited to exhibit across the country and internationally.
The support and energy found in a vibrant cooperative like 1026 are not lost on Lansdale graphic artist Mark Price. A member since he graduated from the nearby Hussian School of Art, Price, at 26, is enjoying a career usually afforded an artist twice that age. In April, he had simultaneous exhibits at Glowlab in postmodern art-trendy Brooklyn and at Siren Records in Doylestown.

He has published two graphic books that are prime examples of state-of-the-art design, richly layered with text and characters. Price’s prints are the kind of art that immediately draws you in. His serious comments on the role of technology in society’s misplaced values are perceived only after the skillful artwork is admired. Or, if you’re lucky, after a conversation with this thoughtful artist.

CD: Where do you trace your interest in graphic art?
MP: To a fifth grade art program that combined life drawing and comic book art. I started carrying a sketchbook everywhere. In high school, I choose the vo-tech curriculum instead of an academic track. Hussian’s four-year program is completely studio art-based, with a total emphasis on graphic art and design. They prepare you to step right into commercial art.

In other words, a job. But you’re taking the harder route of an exhibiting artist.
That’s where Space 1026 plays a vitally supportive role. It provides resources like the print stations. But much more, being connected to a network of artists, different ages, at varying career stages, gives you encouragement as well as ideas. The artists are not necessarily like-minded but all are passionate. There’s constant feedback for your own art.

Your book is called Consider Everything in Bad Shape. That sounds like a message.
Basically, it’s an abstract narrative about the illusion of progress. Using the framework of commercial art — bold typography and fonts (I love Futura!), ink illustration, stylized images and clipped phrases, I re-appropriate it to skewer both the advertising industry that uses artists for its own ends and the hypocrisy in society. The process is turned around to critique societal values and political views. There’s a duality in my work. It’s blunt and cryptic at the same time.

Which hypocrisy?
It’s so ingrained in our lives that even to be aware of it is an amazing thing. I use iconic images like trees and bulldozers, which can represent construction or de-construction of nature. Suburban housing structures are a caricature of country living. When nature is completely harnessed by technology, progress comes at the expense of erasing our landscape. Some of my animals are chewing on cable wires.

Harsh comments. But you seem to remain positive.
It can get grim. Working through what upsets you, you find a place of peace by expressing yourself through your art.

What are your goals? Personal?
I’d like to explore other mediums, including music.

For your art?
When you see a work of art or hear music, it should change you. You draw inspiration from it and it stays with you when you step away from it. You return to it over and over. At the same time, it’s also art as an end in itself.

How do you pay the rent?
Steady freelance work: Screen-printing show posters, CD packages, T-shirts, wedding contracts and invitations. My prints, in editions of 6-100, are available in many locations.

Where can we see more of your art?
Space 1026’s and my Web sites, which also list upcoming shows: markpriceisafactory.com and space1026.com. •