In many of his earlier works Mark Cross painted landscapes that became the site for human activity or portraits. He contrasted the textures of the land and sea with that of the human body and face. In his most recent show Liquid Landscapes he has focused purely on landscape, sea and sky. Most of the views are from the beaches and headland of Niue where the artist lives for most of the year. There is also one work he has painted in Greece, The Mykonian ($20,000).

The painting of beaches and coves are generally distinctive but some could be of various beaches around New Zealand. As in his previous paintings his photo realist style is remarkable. He paint sthe textures of rock, capturing the textures, look and feel of the jagged rock. He captures the sense of water, shimmering and gently lapping as in Inlet, Mokohinau ($25,000) where he also depicts the surrounding landscape reflected in flecks of colour on the surface of the water.

In Reef Backwash ($12,000), he depicts the movement of the rush of sea as it spills over a rocky outcrop, while in Schism, ($45,000) it is the limpid waters of a cove he skilfully records. While he manages to depict his scenes in a photorealist style, he also shows an abstract painterly skill in the way he paints much of the foreground water. Here water becomes abstract – butting green, white and blue shapes against each other to convey the real through abstraction. In all his paintings with rearing rock formations there is a sense of the artist showing the weathered age of the landscape and in Mykonian the one painting of Greece he manages to convey the sense not only of geological time but also history and a sense of connection to the other side of the world.

By John Daly-Peoples, National Business Review, 2015