BIO
London based painter and illustrator Mark Wardel (sometimes using the pseudonym TradeMark) has been making his distinctive lgbtq+ orientated art since 1978 after hitting the London club/music/gay scene direct from art school on Merseyside.
Originally inspired by David Bowie and fascinated by the Bowie-influenced, self created identities and gender experimentation adopted by clubkids, gays, outsiders etc. in order to function in their various subcultures his acrylic and oil paintings, flyers and nightclub installations have been a major presence on the gay/straight/queer club scene internationally from the 1980s to the present day.
Attracting the attention of high profile clients and collectors including David Bowie/Isolar, Absolut Vodka and Defected Records, his work has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums and resides in the public collections of The Liverpool Museum and The V&A Storehouse East/David Bowie Archive.
Wardel's work has and continues to evoke an alternate vision of timeless hedonism throughout turbulent times.
MARK WARDEL
Curriculum Vitae
1957 Born Wallasey Merseyide
Lives and works in London
Education
1985-1986 Printmaking Chelsea School of Art (part time)
1975-1978 Wallasey College of art and Design
General theory and freehand drawing City & Guilds (credit)
Geometry perspective and projection City & Guilds (credit)
Human illustration (pictorial) City & Guilds (credit
Selected exhibitions
2026 'Gender stories' (group) Walker Art Gallery Liverpool UK
2026 'Gender stories' (group) Brighton Museum UK
2025 'Gender stories' (group) Bristol Museum UK
2024 'We Are The Dead' (solo) Muphoria Gallery london UK
2019 'Scarlett Woman' (group) The Gallery Stanhope Street Liverpool UK
2018 'BLAK/BLACK' (group) The Crypt Gallery St. Pancras London UK
2017 'Tales From The City' (group) Liverpool Museum UK
2017 'Creative Rage' (group) The Gallery Stanhope Street Liverpool UK
2016 'Wild Mutation' (solo) The Gallery Stanhope Street Liverpool UK
2016 'Creative Rage' (group) The Potteries Museum Stoke UK
2013 'This Way Out' (duo) Camp & Furnace Liverpool UK
2010 'Act Art' (group) Electrowerks Gallery London UK
2009 'Hunks Spunks & B-Boys' (solo) Urban Uprising Gallery Sydney
Australia
2007 'Fellow Travellers' (group) Salford Gallery and Museum Manchester
UK
2006 'FLY' (solo) Candid Arts London UK
2003 'TradeMark Show' (solo) Candid Arts London UK
2001 'Club art Installation' (solo) Hollywood Palace Los Angeles USA
2001 'Remix' (solo) Stables Gallery London UK
1999 'Underground Ikon' (solo) Departure Lounge Gallery London UK
Public Collections
Liverpool Museum
V&A Storehouse East/David Bowie Archive
Bishopsgate Institute London
Private Collections
Mark wardel's work is in private collections internationally
Selected Press
Charlie Porter 'In loving memory' TATE ETC. Summer 2025
Adrian Gibson 'Mark Wardel's Bowie Masks The Cutured Traveller
Magazine December 2025
Dylan Jones 'Mark Wardel's captivating Bowie cut outs
London Evening Standard 13th. August 2024
Pat Flanagan 'In conversation: Mark Wardel Novum Artis 2023
Anon 'Mark Wardel/TradeMark Kaltblut Magazine 2022
Sav Liotta 'Mark Wardel' Design Scene 2016
David Bowie buys collection of Mark Wardel masks Daily Mail 2015
Mark Wardel's Bowie Mask Nick Knight 'Showstudio' Blog 2014
Selected Bibliography
Mark Edward & Stephen Farrier 'Drag vistas and visions'
Methuen 2025
Mark Wardel and Susan Compo 'The Fly In The Milk'
David Bowie and Cracked Actor Red Planet Books 2023
Susan Compo 'Earthbound' David Bowie and The Man Who Fell To
Earth Jawbone Books 2017
Mark Edward & Stephen Farrier 'Contemporary drag practice &
performers Methuen 2020
Brian Hiatt 'A Portrait Of Bowie' Octopus Books 2016
Joe Kerr and Andrew Gibson 'London from punk to Blair'
Reaktion Books 2012
Craig McCarthy 'Fly by night' the new art of the club flyer
Thames & Hudson 2008
Phil Beddard 'Nocturnal' club flyer art Booth Clibborn Editions 2000
David Leddick 'The Nude Male' Rizzoli USA 2008
Michelle Olley 'Homme' masterpieces of erotic photography
Carlton 1999
Various 'Les Gays Savoirs' Editions Gallimard/Centre Pompidou
France 1998
James Gardiner 'Who's a pretty boy then?' Serpent's Tail 1997