Marc Blake was born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. After graduating Auckland University, Marc spent 4 1/2 years living and painting in Yokohama, Japan and 3 years in Sydney, Australia before returning to New Zealand and moving to Queenstown in 2015, where he now lives with his wife and their young son.

Exhibiting widely since 2005, Blake is extensively represented in collections both nationally and internationally, including 16 works in the Arts House Trust, New Zealand’s largest private art collection. A recipient of and finalist in numerous art awards, including the Supreme Winner of the 2023 Craigs Aspiring Art Prize, Blake’s work has also been shown in exhibitions at the Auckland Art Gallery, the Kyoto Cultural Museum and The Dowse, as well as a residency and exhibition at BankART NYK, Yokohama.

In mid-2019 Marc became the founder & director of Queenstown Contemporary, an artist run space that created a legacy over 2 years of operation that showed the work of over 300 artists and transformed and shaped the direction and opportunities for visual art and artists in the Queenstown Lakes region. From 2021-2023, Blake subsequently created and ran, “Broker”, a curatorial project featuring multiple artists from around the country in 20 solo and group exhibitions, including the first Queenstown gallery to be selected for the Aotearoa Art Fair.