Iron Head on Concrete Floor, 2013

Mark Manders is widely recognised for his extensive, long-standing creation of a series titled ‘Self Portraits as a Building’ - a range of installations, sculptures and drawings that have been likened to a physical depiction of narratives, language and structured sentences. Manders’ use of materials within his installations strays from the norm and often includes items such as light bulbs, blankets, chairs and even dead animals. The first installation of Manders’ ‘Self Portraits’ series was the architectural plan titled Inhabited for a Survey (First Floor Plan) - a plan that was drawn on the floor of a gallery using crayons and pencils. Manders has stated that this fictional building he is attempting to denote is actually an allusion to his own alter-ego - the Mark Manders that is separate from his persona as an artist; he has described this alter-ego as a ‘neurotic, sensitive individual who can only exist in an artificial world.’