A brief biography

Born in 1972, Mark was brought up in Kirkop, a quaint village nestled on the Maltese islands. His father was a master carpenter and his mother, as he portrays her, was a woman of exceptional humility and kindness.

Like most children, Mark’s appetite for creativity started at a very young age. One particular childhood memory – a movie depicting Michelangelo’s life, titled ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’ had a profound artistic influence on him and before long his drawings shifted from cartoon characters to religious icons.

He also enjoyed constructing his own toys from wood in his father’s workshop and at the age of fourteen, within those very workshop walls, he was acquainted with a sculptor who proposed to accompany him to an art school in Valletta for evening classes. The memory of his initial entrance into the school, where he experienced an immediate sense of connection, is still vivid in his mind. However, the school at that time could only admit students who were a minimum of sixteen years old, and thus, lessons had to be postponed.

Drawing was momentarily sidelined when he found a new passion in playing the guitar, a hobby he continues to cherish. However, there are moments in life when we inevitably come full circle and find ourselves returning to our roots and our very first love.

Later, in his mid-forties, Mark was introduced by a close friend and author to Luca Cauchi, an artist who not only teaches the technical skills and academic basics to his students but also inspires them to adopt a more philosophical approach towards the arts.

And on a philosophical note;

The journey continues, for it is endless and profound. Art enables us to better observe and examine life.

Without art, human life would be incomplete.

Mark Callus