Mark Rumsey is a Michigan-based installation artist working in prints, paper, cloth, space and light. His work has been exhibited around the nation and published in Grand Rapids Magazine, Revue Magazine, Detroit Free Press, The Chicago Reader, Artbistro.com and Artistaday.com. Rumsey studied at Montana State University and Ohio State University prior to completing an MFA in Printmaking at Kendall College of Art & Design. He works to promote the visual arts through their integration into economic and community development. His arts advocacy work includes projects from community built artwork to organizing contemporary art festivals. Rumsey has traveled extensively beginning with a study trip to China while at GVSU. International travel in the mode of cultural immersion informs his work - he's traveled in China, Nepal, India, Egypt, Turkey, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and much of the United States. In summer 2009, he was an artist in residence at Frans Masereel Cetrum, the Flemish Center for Graphic Arts. In February 2011, Rumsey will be an artist in residence at the Studies of Key West.

Artist Statement:

As an artist, I am interested in how we perceive what is around us. With the passage of time, we find new ways to investigate our world. New tools allow us to see further and further into our reality, clarifying what we thought we knew and creating a new set of questions to be answered. We use such information to define our understanding of existence. Knowing how things work may reveal why we are here.
As more of our world is explored, patterns unfold such as the crystalline structure of clouds, or the precise repetition of a perfect spiral in a snail or fern sprout. Pattern denotes a plan and is often used as evidence of the divine. Yet the divine is often alluded to in human term with ideal human attributes - we humans have developed a process of theogony, or god building, based upon our observations and our desires.
Metaphysical Wallpaper plays with these ideas by presenting patterns composed of "eye of god" images. Three of these images represent three ways of perceiving . The eye in the pyramid depicts the divine looking out form on high - the observer. The scientific cross section gathering information - the observed. The final eye is the "third eye" looking inward to discover oneself and ultimately the oneness of it all. Within the panel, peep-holes have been set. By peering into them, the viewer will discover images that represent the divine in diverse cultures, religions, and traditions.