Mark Holland-Hicken’s art career started nearly 20 years ago when he began working for one of the world’s most prestigious Hi-Fi companies – Mission. He was employed as an Industrial designer but slowly found himself more and more involved in the creative side of marketing and advertising. It wasn’t until the birth of his premature baby daughter that he realised there was more to life than working 100 hour weeks in a design studio. He began to paint her. Over time building up a substantial portfolio of private portraits as she grew up and turned into a bonny little girl. During those few years he realised too that his passion lay in figure painting. He left full time work to spend a few hours a week designing as a consultant and put all of his energies into creating beautiful, sensual and elegant figures. His talent speaks for itself, yet his hard work soon paid off when he became internationally published by two of the world’s largest and most prestigious publishing houses. His originals and prints being distributed throughout the globe. He is rapidly approaching the point where all of his work is sold before he even paints a stroke… A conversation with a dear friend always comes to his mind when asked about his career in art… “Mark, you know that when you marry your mistress you create a vacancy” “Sorry Jon?” “When your passion becomes your job you’ll find a new passion” Thankfully Mark has never considered painting as his “job” – it is his life’s driving passion!