Mark Topp is a traditional painter in the very best sense of that term. His technique is supple, but rigorous as his eye roams the spectrum of modern life for suitable subjects. It is unfortunate that he has spent so much of his career in an artistic backwater, though his native resourcefulness has sought employment and projects that stretch his capacities. Unlike many artists, he has few limitations, excelling at whatever genre he chooses to explore. Had he wished to become a painter of historical subjects, for example, his work might easily rival that of John Stobart, possibly the most gifted interpreter of America's past. But he is also a figurative painter who can't resist landscape painting. In a word or two, Mark Topp is a visual artist whose eyes are wide open to a world he has always found - and, I hope, may continue to find - irresistible.

- Brett Busang