(top) “Night Droning”, drawing graphite on paper 31″ x 23″ 2021
(bottom) “I’m Your Man”, painting, acrylic on canvas 36″ x 37″ 2025
Biography
M. Mark Bauer is a Berkeley-based painter whose work explores abstraction through geometry, color, and spatial tension. He earned his B.A. from San Diego State College in 1968 and his MFA from UC Davis in 1972, where he developed a disciplined approach to formal structure and modernist inquiry.
After exhibiting in the early 1970s, Bauer stepped away from painting for several decades before returning to his studio practice in 2008. His current work reflects both experience and renewal — layered surfaces, luminous color relationships, and compositions that suggest architectural and atmospheric space.
Bauer’s paintings balance structure with intuition, creating contemplative works that reward close attention. Since resuming his practice, he has exhibited throughout Northern California, reaffirming his commitment to abstraction and the expressive possibilities of color and form.
