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A Room of One's Own - Exhibition Artworks
‘A room of one’s own’ is an expression that was popularised by Virginia Woolf, but which was originally taken from a love letter between the writer Lytton Strachey and the painter Duncan Grant, who were both members of the Bloomsbury set. These men yearned for a space they could define on their own terms away from the preying eyes of a hostile heteronormative world. With homosexuality only de-criminalised in England in the 1960s, many of the works on display reference a time before this, when men were arrested and charged with ‘Acts of Gross Indecency’, sometimes for something as simple as touching or kissing.
For this exhibition, Mark Mann has brought together a group of his artworks inspired by the bravery of the queer interior. Through his finely crafted facades, the works conceal ugly realities and histories. They act as monuments to the people whose histories and realities they reference. Showing these works in the Cast Gallery brings these queer histories, which have so often remained hidden and unacknowledged, to the forefront. The viewer is invited to discover Mark’s works weaved throughout the gallery and to consider the histories that have inspired them.
Antinous Army
11 x 8 cm each
£65
300 press moulded and hand-built sculptures in the shape of Antinous, emperor Hadrian’s lover, the boy-god who became a timeless icon for the LGBTQ+ community. Mann has created an army of Antinous heads through A 7-year exploration of clay bodies and glaze chemistry creating totally unique works. 100 of these heads form a limited-edition series available to purchase during the exhibition.
The 100 pieces from the limited ed are available for sale on our website
Large Rhododendron Tile
25 x 16 cm
£185
Framed in a floating frame which allows a gap around the raised up artwork
Cast tile featuring a carnation, which is a flower tied to the symbolism of love and desire. The carnation also took on a symbolism of gay identity when depicted in green, a meaning that was popularised by Oscar Wilde.
SOLD - Hyacinthus Stand
30 x 23 x 22cm
Handmade ceramic sculpture depicting Hyacinthus, who was the lover of the God Apollo in Greek Mythology. After Hyacinthus chose Apollo over the God of the Western winds, Zephyrus, in a fit of jealousy he killed Hyacinthus by blowing a discus into his head; the hyacinth flower was said to have risen, or been created by Apollo from his blood upon his death.
Lucky Roman Phallic Vase
14 x 13 x 13 cm
Ceramic thrown vase with hand carved penises featured on the surface
£180
This vase is alluding to the vases that survive from Ancient Rome and Greece which were sometimes erotic and explicit, Mann is playing with the idea that now we do not consider the erotic past in Classical art.
SOLD Cavorting Parakeets tile
16 x 16 cm
Cast tile depicting two male cavorting parakeets
Framed in a floating frame which allows a gap around the raised up artwork
Oscar in Green Silk Scarf
90 x 90 cm
£110
Mark Mann designed textile printed in England on silk
Pose (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
A Room of One’s Own (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
Mark Mann and Rebecca Mowse
Pose - Artist Proof
A1 Giclée print
Framed
60 x 85 cm
£220
In this photograph, a figure strikes a bold, unapologetic pose, body sculpted like a classical statue—muscular, poised, and defiant.
Fig Leaf (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
A Room of One’s Own (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
A Room of One’s Own (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
Mark Mann and Rebecca Mowse
Fig Leaf - Artist Proof
A1 Giclée print
Framed
60 x 85 cm
£220
The fig leaf is an object that tells the story of censorship, often associated with the museum setting.
A Room of One’s Own (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
A Room of One’s Own (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
A Room of One’s Own (Artist Proof) (A1 Giclée print)
Mark Mann and Rebecca Mowse
A Room of One’s Own - Artist Proof
A1 Giclée print
Framed
60 x 85 cm
£220
"As gay men, we hide our truth behind the beauty we manufacture... We decorate the world, our lives, and our bodies to conceal our real selves. We are professionals in remodelling ugly truths into high-fashion dreams." – Downs, A. (2006) This photograph is testament to the bravery of the Queer interior.
Beware The Sods
55 x 55cm
£3450
In a world hostile to homosexual men, cottaging and cruising became an outlet for connection. This piece featuring individually casted and mounted ceramic tiles, references the 1950s scare films warning of the "dangers" of homosexuals. In the absence of decoration and imagery that represented gay men, queer meaning was found in what was around them.
View more photos at the bottom of this page
Beautiful Failures, Queer Fragments
Installations of fragments
Varying sizes ranging from 15 – 35 cm
POA
"Beautiful Failures: Where Broken Fragments Rebuild a Lost Queer History." This collection includes accidental failures, kiln god disasters, deliberately broken works, and reconstructed fragments.
Pandemonium
54 x 79 cm
£3150
This work is made up of individually casted and mounted tiles to create a piece which challenges the shameful notion of seeking love, sex, and connection in public toilets. In many of Mann’s works finely crafted facades conceal the harsh realities of persecution and hostility, serving as a decorative monument to forbidden loves. Shame plays a large role in the creative work of gay artists and designers and this piece combats shame found around these desires.
View more photos at the bottom of this page
Acts of Gross Indecency
Cast earthenware tiles in an antique frame
67 x 50.5 cm
£2650
This work features cast earthenware tiles housing the words ‘Acts of Gross Indecency’, in reference to the criminal charge men faced for homosexual acts in England. In their deep bottle green colour and rectangular shape, the tiles are reminiscent of those found in public toilets, through this Mann is drawing on the significance of the public space for the Queer community and has contrasted the discomfort in these space by encasing them in a luxurious antique frame.
Acts of Gross Indecency plate
Slip cast plate with copper oxide details
25 x 25 x 3cm
£130
This slip cast plate with copper oxide details features the words ‘Acts of Gross Indecency’ almost branded into its surface. Beautifully decorative, it juxtaposes the trauma linked to these words with a delicate, decorative pattern and its sense of domestic comfort.
Glipses of Glory
Screen with 216 handmade terracotta tiles
169 cm tall varying width and depth
£7,500
This screen is made up of 216 handmade and glazed ceramic tiles, on one side, and on the other, one of Mark’s hand screen-printed textiles. This piece draws on the history that the queer community has with public and yet hidden spaces, by making a private object, such as a screen with a glory hole in it, into an opulent and luxurious item to be admired and seen. Mann is combatting the censorship and shame tied up with British Queer histories.
Acts of Gross Indecency Urinal
Cast bronze urinal and wall panel
180 x 61 cm
£18 500
Mann’s cast bronze urinal is a monumental work featuring a repetitive pattern of carnations across the top panel, and an intimate scene of male parakeets on the urinal section. Mann often uses symbols and motifs to draw out a deeper meaning, in this case he is alluding to the Queer histories of public spaces and reclaiming them as objects of beauty and admiration.
His use of symbolisms is notable in the use of carnations, a flower used to symbolise love and one which was popularised by Oscar Wilde as a symbol of gay identity when the flower appeared green.
SOLD - Ganymede Vases
40 x 22cm each
POA
Mann’s cast and hand carved vases featuring Ganymede who was described by the Classical writer Homer as the most handsome mortal and in the Iliad, it is described how he was abducted by Zeus to serve the Gods, after Zeus fell in love with Ganymede and acting as an eagle carried him from earth to Mount Olympus to become immortal. Ganymede and this myth have become symbols of Queer desire especially in times when artists and collectors could not be openly Queer.
View more photos at the bottom of this page
Fig Leaves - Large
approx 32 x 27 x 7 cm
£250 each
Mann’s cast and hand-carved fig leaves are individually glazed and carved yet are all modelled on the fig leaf that was commissioned by the V&A to cover the David statue prior to Queen Victoria’s visit in 1857. This link alludes to the censorship of the male body and the desire it held, especially in Victorian times when it was illegal to carry out homosexual acts as a male.
Each leaf is unique and not two are the same !
Fig Leaves - Small
approx 17 x 14 x 6 cm
£120 each
Mann’s cast and hand-carved fig leaves are individually glazed and carved yet are all modelled on the fig leaf that was commissioned by the V&A to cover the David statue prior to Queen Victoria’s visit in 1857. This link alludes to the censorship of the male body and the desire it held, especially in Victorian times when it was illegal to carry out homosexual acts as a male.
Each leaf is unique and not two are the same !
Antinous Tiles Framed
17 .5 x 17.5 cm
£145 each
Framed in a floating frame which allows a gap around the raised up artwork
This series of tiles by Mann features an icon of Queer mythology and is a contemporary reminder of Queer love throughout history, hidden but in plain sight. Antinous was emperor Hadrian’s homosexual lover, who was famously so beautiful and youthful, that upon his death, Hadrian had him deified and named a city after him; he has long been considered an icon for the LGBTQ+ community.
I Heard You In The Garden (Adam and Steve)
45 x 36 x 6 cm
£750
This press moulded plate features two men under a tree, reminiscent of the story of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis where they are in the Garden of Eden and disobey God by eating fruit from the forbidden tree. In this plate Mann is playing with this story and instead imposing two male figures as the characters in this tale.
Desire’s Reflection
Ceramic Bud Vase Thrown and hand glazed
£220 each
2 available
Narcissus, the myth of self-love, became a symbol for forbidden love between men—where longing is mirrored but never fulfilled. In the cut-out of these bud vases the viewer can see the silhouette of two faces looking towards each other.
Large penis platter
39 x 38 x 6.5 cm
£345
Hand decorated and glazed
Large platter made of terracotta featuring phallic designs across the surface with slip inlay and gold lustre inlay.
Small penis bowl
10. 5 x 13 x 11 cm
£165
Terracotta hand built pot featuring phallic designs around the outside.
Beware The Sods - more photos
PANDEMONIUM - more photos