in memoriam MARK LOMBARDI 1951 - 2000   a memorial for mark was held on sunday, april 9th, 2000 mark lombardi's obituary in the new york times by roberta smith mark lombardi's flatfile page       The Loss of Mark To all the gang: The loss/presence of Mark Lombardi will endure in my soul for the rest of my life....he was a very special mentor to me and lit a flame of artistic encouragement in my inner-most self that I will cherish and not let go of. I shared many fine life experiences with Mark, he was a tremendous artistic force. Sincerely, David H. Brown March 24, 2000     I met Mark at The Drawing Center: we made our debut together in that show! In fact he was the only artist of the group I actually met at the opening: he made a point of coming over and having a conversation. That was how Mark was. Just a nice guy. Uneffected. His drawings were really growing into a wonderful new mature and elegent dimension. He left a beautiful intelligent legacy. Mary Judge     Dear friends of Mark's in New York, I'm a painter from Texas, and Mark was a friend of mine. I met him in 1973, when I was a student and a member of the staff of the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. Mark came down here to work as a curator at that museum, at the invitation of Jim Harithas, who had been appointed director. It didn't take us long to become friends. Mark stayed here for twenty-five years. He ran a gallery here for several years called Square One. He was always a champion of new ideas, and he frequently gave shows to artists based on nothing but a strong opinion that the artists had merit. Althought the gallery eventually folded, Mark made many friends among artists, and he gained the respect of the community. Mark was always a sort of compulsive assembler of information...on a variety of subjects. He had a good mind, and always seemed to be gathering facts for a story which was never quite finished, but inevitably supported a growing body of evidence describing disturbing connections between a white-collar criminal class and various governments around the world, including our own. Mark's information, originally on index cards, eventually became unwieldy in that form, so he began stringing out the various actions and relationships among the "players" in graphic, linear structures that resembled sentence diagrams. He developed a vocabulary and a sort of grammar in an attempt to allow the viewer to apprehend the total picture, using paper on long rolls. In 1996, Mark submitted some of these drawings to Paul Schimmel, curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, who was guest juror for an annual show sponsored by the Lawndale Art Center in Houston. Schimmel immediately recognized the merit of the work, both as information and as drawing. It was, in effect, a new form of Conceptual Art. Part of the award that Mark received at Lawndale was an invitation to have a solo show at that same institution, which Mark happily accepted. After spending most of his life as an art administrator and champion of other artists, he finally was recognized as an artist in his own right. Mark showed work at the Robert McClaine Gallery, and McClaine helped him establish a relationship with New York. It was a logical next step for Mark to move. We all watched Mark's recognition and acceptance with great joy. It was wonderful to read about him in Art in America, Flash Art, and the New York Times. He was on his way. When the news of Mark's death arrived, almost all of us thought that he was murdered. We assumed that he had made one too many accusations, and that someone made a phone call. We still don't know what happened. We have read that the medical examiner ruled Mark's death a suicide, but we are unable to understand or accept the idea that Mark would kill himself right when he was, as Jim Harithas said, "at the top of his game". Apparently, certain physical evidence found in his place, specifically the fact that the door was bolted from the inside, led the police to conclude, since the place had no windows through which an assailant could escape, that Mark hanged himself. We don't know possible factors, perhaps in his personal life, that could have contributed to such a depressed state of mind. Personally, I have known Mark to work, without sleep, for days at a time. This might suggest a form of mania that is not at all that rare. I saw Mark really depressed, too, when he was going through his divorce. He did not seem suicidal then. He was a mess, but he was not suicidal. The energy and level of concentration that Mark had was uncanny to many of us. Sometimes he did seem like a man possessed. I'm not qualified to make any pronouncements about what may have been disturbing Mark, but some of us wonder if he had not developed a bipolar disorder. We are all ruminating, over and over, what could have happened. Maybe it's just the way people try to deal with an irretrievable tragedy, always knowing there's nothing we can do about it. Wednesday night, March 29th, some of us gathered at the home of Ibsen Espada, an artist and friend of Mark's, to talk and think about Mark. I got most everybody there to sign his name in one of my sketchbooks. I'm sending these signatures to you as a way of expressing our condolences. Some time in the future, Houston will have another show of Mark's work, at one museum or another. It's too soon to know where, but it will happen. We will never know what other great work Mark could have produced. Mark would have made many new friends, and he may have changed things just a little more for the better. We will miss him. Rest in Peace, Mark. Andy Feehan     Hello, I read about Mark today. I didn't know him very well, we had a brief conversation once. But here I am at 1:00AM writing this because I can't stop thinking about it. I was an intern at Pierogi. There was a drawing of Mark's that hung over the desk I worked at. It grabbed my first instinct to connect the dots. I would follow the lines, make the connections and read about the details. I underestimated what at first seemed like a simple diagram. I thought it was humorous, but then I found myself feeling like I was retracing someone else's thought patterns, interests and perhaps, obsessions. I don't recall all the words, but I do remember the ideas and the process. Week after week I never got tired of it, the drawing was intelligent. It has been almost two years since then, and all this has got me thinking about how essential it is to participate in the dialogue of art. That's why I worked at Pierogi. I would go home inspired. I knew other artists were up late in their studios like me and somehow I felt comfort in that. It affirmed who I was. Now I feel bothered and uneasy. Since I left NYC I haven't painted with the same energy and desire. Until now, I didn't think about it much. Days and months have gone by while I'm planning in my head how to make time for painting. I read that Mark is gone and now I'm thinking how important it is to keep pushing, keep searching, keep drawing, keep doing, keep painting, don't put it off... It doesn't matter that I didn't know Mark. What matters is that he was one of many talented artists that encouraged and inspired me as a young artist. I am grateful for experiencing his work and I know he will be missed. G.U.   The last time I saw Mark and Hillary was at Douglas Kelley's loft on New Year's Day. He was very animated and told some very amusing, sardonic stories. He drank beer and smoked many cigarettes and we all laughed a lot as the afternoon stretched into evening. I didn't know him well at all, but he seemed like the rest of us hardened pros, trading anecdotes about this critic or that show - an art lifer, I thought, resigned to what is constantly demanded to play the game. To step away, seemed impossible or improbable as we all planned our trajectories that first day of the millenium. Deborah Ripley A gallery opening in Dumbo. A doorway between two large rooms. Mark Lombardi sipping a beer, leaning against the frame of the door. ME: Mark. You look so relaxed. You're in an "oragon box." HIM: What? Yes. And, yes. Herbert Marcuse read. All and more. For my work is based on Marcuse's writings. (an unexpected insight into the elegant and intelligent work of Mark Lombardi) Norma Markley what can one say - but that 'I' shall miss what he could of done. I have been given - I have received from this man /this fellow artist/this person in my midst - I will always remember & hold his images ...his art / I thank him. I send my sincere regards to his family & close friends. sorrowfully,donelle estey   I met Mark Lombardi only once at an opening at Gallery Joe in Philadelphia where he was participating in a group show. He was a very friendly person who seemed to have little interest in any art world ego games. It's always very sad when an artist in his forties finally gets some recognition and then personal problems become to much leaving suicide as an answer. He leaves behind his work for us to think about. Marc Salz
	P   I   E   R   O   G   I     2   0   0   0 177 north 9th street brooklyn, ny 11211 718.599.2144 noon to 6p friday through monday and by appointment pierogi 2000 is an innovative art gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn, new york