Mark Bloom 'Curated Mayhem'

13 Jun-22 Jun 2025

Credit: Mark Bloom

Overview

Mark Bloom, a curator/collector from the United States began curating art shows in 2014, featuring the discarded art he discovered in thrift stores, swap meets, dumpsters and yard sales. In partnership with a friend, he called these shows  ‘Tales From The Trash’, a reference to the fact that at one time the artwork they discovered has been abandoned, donated, sold or literally thrown away.

Rarely do these abandoned paintings have titles, so they are given a name they feel is appropriate (or, at times, inappropriate) He will display about 100 original works of art, all for sale, apart from a selection of pieces from The Permanent Collection.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of doing Art Shows is witnessing peoples’ reactions to so many paintings, each one very different from the one hanging next to it, with no cohesive theme or style, other than where they came from. 

Strange amateur art in an environment where there is no judgement on what is, or is not, considered proper ‘Art’. If he likes it for any reason, it is in the show.