Mark Lumley (Gonzo)
An enthusiastic caver for 25 years, Mark Lumley's activities underground are divided between sketching and exploring for new caves. In many instances the two go hand in hand. A typical days caving might entail many hours of crawling and digging in tight, wet, remote passages, accompanied by a tackle bag full of heavy digging equipment. Alongside this will be sketch pads, pencils and chalks.
The artist tries to catch the spontaneity and drama of the real situation in quick sketches as it occurs, rather than working with contrived, modeled poses or simply from photographs. Particular attention is paid to capturing the "caver's view" -the scen e interrupted only by the dim beam of a caving light, the condensation generated by wet, hot, tired bodies in the cold, cave air and the sense of mystery generated by the areas of absolute darkness where the caver's light fails to penetrate. These are th en transferred to paper in the comfort of the studio while the moment is fresh in the artists memory (before the bruises disappear!!)
Mark has caved on expeditions in Mexico and the USA (as a sherpa on the successful push on Lake of the White Roses, Lechuguilla) together with numerous explorations in France, Spain, Austria, Ireland and Romania. His is a member of the BEC and a Warden for the Mendip Rescue Organization.