Future prints

This week sees the opening of The Future – an exhibition of more than 35 works by former Professor of Printmaking at the Royal College of Art, Tim Mara.

All the prints in the exhibition were created between 1976 and 1997, the year of Mara’s death.

Working almost exclusively in print, Mara said he was inspired by old master painters such as Velásquez and Vermeer, particularly in their handling of light, colour and composition.

Many people, however, have commented on the similarities between Mara’s work and that of the pop-artists, particularly in his bright, bold depictions of interiors.

As Mara’s career progressed, his growing interests in pattern, repetition and refraction became increasingly evident, and his work began to feature everyday objects such as the 1983 print, Water Jug.

Coal and Diamonds, from 1985, demonstrates Mara’s interest in transparent and reflective materials and their inherent ideas of illusion and distortion, though the works frequently references other topics ranging from the miner’s stroke to the paranormal.

Tim Mara will be on display at Advanced Graphics London, 32 Long Lane, London SE1