John Mark Gleadow’s artistic training, prior to college, was art class in elementary school. After receiving a congressional nomination to attend West Point in 1994, John Mark enrolled at the University of Delaware to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering. As he loved design, but not the technical constraints of engineering, he quickly made the decision to follow a career as an artist. While a career in Graphic Design was initially considered, Gleadow decided to major in painting after taking an introduction to painting class as an elective. His affinity for the medium was rapidly apparent: his final project for his introduction to painting class sold in a Washington, D.C. gallery. Early influences on the young artist were Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali and Ver Meer. He valued great technical proficiency in the medium of oil paint, coupled with original and often surreal subject matter. Over the years this has let him to create work which is appearance, seems to be a photograph, but couldn’t actually be taking place in reality. An example would be a portrait of a young child emerging from a framed piece of artwork, with his hand resting on the frame: all of it – frame and all – being oil paint. Gleadow’s precise technique coupled with imaginative subject matter piques the viewer’s interest and brings a very real sense of life to his artwork.