Mark Khaisman: Striking A Pose

This year’s Emerging Artist Series honoree, Mark Khaisman, received his art training in the Soviet Union before he emigrated to the United States in the early 1990s. Following an apprenticeship at the Willet Stained Glass Studios in Philadelphia, Khaisman turned his talents to the most pedestrian of media, packing tape, with which he “draws” on walls or on backlit plexiglas panels. With subject matter that bridges populism and high art — images of classical portrait busts, film noir movie stills, snapshots of teenagers — he has carved a distinctive and crowd-pleasing niche in the contemporary art scene.