Mark Thomas Gibson (b. 1980, Miami, FL) is an American artist, curator, and professor who lives and works in Philadelphia, PA. Gibson addresses themes of identity, race, history, and popular culture through a multidisciplinary practice that includes painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and animation. Gibson’s work is shaped by his multifaceted perspective and personal lens, informed by a deep knowledge of American history, and critically examines the myths, contradictions, and enduring power structures of the United States. He constructs satirical and often dystopian narratives in which history, fantasy, and present-day politics collide. In these narratives, Gibson implicates both artist and viewer as active participants in America’s unfinished story.

Drawing from the visual language of comic books, Renaissance painting, and political cartoons, Gibson creates recurring, comic-inspired characters that function as tools of transformation, allowing him to confront themes of race, white supremacy, nationalism, and collective memory while maintaining a tension between ominous warning and universal hope. Although many of his works are saturated with American imagery and focused on the past and possible futures of the nation, these narratives extend beyond national borders, offering universal messages of caution alongside encouragement to actively participate in a shared global timeline.

Since 2021, Gibson has developed Town Crier, an ongoing series responding to the accelerated pace of contemporary political life. Rendered in graphic line and ink wash, the Crier, often dressed in Revolutionary-era clothing, serves as both a stand-in for the artist and a concerned citizen, broadcasting current events with the urgency of breaking news. These works slow the act of reading and looking, encouraging reflection amid the constant churn of “doomscrolling.” This series expanded in scale with the Banner Project, which reimagines historical modes of public address and national symbolism, including the American flag.

Gibson received his BFA from The Cooper Union in 2002 and his MFA in Painting/Printmaking from Yale School of Art in 2013. Gibson’s honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Pew Fellowship, a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Grant. He has been a MacDowell Fellow twice and has held residencies at Yaddo, the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, Ox-Bow School of Art, and Pilchuck Glass School. Solo exhibitions include presentations at the Berman Museum (Collegeville, PA), The Library Company of Philadelphia, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) (Detroit), Sikkema Jenkins & Co. (New York), M+B (Los Angeles), Loyal (Stockholm), Fredericks & Freiser (New York), the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery (Philadelphia). Group exhibitions have been held at institutions and galleries including the African American Museum of Philadelphia, Pace Gallery (New York), Perrotin (Tokyo), Barbara Gladstone Gallery (New York), Albertz Benda at Kunstraum Potsdam (Berlin), Jeffrey Deitch (New York), Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia Beach), Paul Kasmin Gallery (New York), among others. His artist book Early Retirement was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Education

2013 MFA, Yale School of Art, Painting & Printmaking, New Haven, CT
2002 BFA, Cooper Union School for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY

Solo Exhibitions

2025
The Banner Project, Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston, MA
Overture, The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA

2024
Lineage, The Library Company of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

2023
A Retelling: New Work by Mark Thomas Gibson, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI
WHIRLYGIG!, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY

2022
HERE YE, HERE YE!!!, Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

2021
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, M+B, Los Angeles, CA

2020
Resting Space, M+B, Los Angeles, CA

2019
The Dangerous One, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2018
Gauntlet, Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden

2017
Early Retirement, Fredericks and Freiser, New York, NY

2016
Some Monsters Loom Large, Fredericks and Freiser, New York, NY

2013
Alamo Revenant, Fredericks and Freiser, New York, NY
Black and Blue, Motus Fort, Tokyo, Japan

Group Exhibitions

2025
Made In Philly, Uffner & Liu , New York, NY

2024
Striking (Lightning) Blue, Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden

2023
Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America, Curated by Judith Tannenbaum, Dejay Duckett, and Jodi Throckmorton, African American Museum in Philadelphia, Philadephia, PA
Poor People’s Art: A (Short) Visual History of Poverty in the United States, University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL
Retinal Hysteria, Venus Over Manhattan, New York. NY

2022
Flying Horse Editions Exhibition, UCF Art Gallery, Orlando, FL
Behold: Works from Rutgers Print Collaborative, Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ

2021
THIS IS AMERICA, curated by Mike Gessner in partnership with Albertz Benda Gallery, Kunstraum Potsdam, Berlin, Germany
A Gathering, The Catskills, New York, NY
American Psyche, two-person exhibition with Austin Lee, Carl Kostyal, Hospitalet, Stockholm, Sweden
Bitter Nest, Perrotin. Tokyo, Japan
The Myth Industry, Friends Indeed Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Something About Us, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL

2020
Vortex, Curated by Allison Zuckerman. Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
Drawing 2020, Barbara Gladstone, New York, NY
Living in America, curated by Assembly Room, IPCNY, New York, NY
Good Pictures, curated by Austin Lee, Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY
The Hundredth Exhibition, Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden
Animal Crossing, curated by Jackie Gendel + Dana Frankfort, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
Life During Wartime, University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL
Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of the Black and Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA

2019
Routine Malfunction, 1969 Gallery, New York, NY
Neither Devils Nor Divines, Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY
Quiet March to a Warring Song, curated by Amie Cunat, Shaker Museum, New Lebanon, NY
Big Ringer, Andrew Eldin Gallery, New York, NY

2018
The Cruellest Month, Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY
Utopias, Gallery 221, Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, FL
Shelter, International Comix Festival, Lucerne, Switzerland

2017
Woke! Contemporary Art Museum, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
The Curator’s Eggs, Paul Kasmin Gallery, NY

2016
A Being in the World, Salon 94, New York, NY
American Optimism, Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME

2015
The Midnight Sun, Ms. Barbers, Los Angeles, CA
The Landscape Changes 30 Times, Anahita Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
All Types of Characters, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY

2014
American Beauty, Susan Inglett, New York, NY

2013
Blane De St. Croix, Mark Thomas Gibson, Howardena Pindell, Fredericks and Freiser, New York, NY

2012
Space, Curated by Matt Jones, North Atlantic Conference Exhibition, New York, NY
Quick While Still, Curated by Kadar Brock, Heist Gallery, New York, NY

2009
Quick While Still, Curated by Kadar Brock, Motus Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Hollywood Cultural Arts Center Annual Exhibition, Hollywood, FL

Public Collections

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, New Haven, CT
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Hillsborough Community College, Tampa, FL