...if a detective is the one who discovers what is hidden then Marks qualifies for the title. His work, which has been exhibited at major art fairs in America, Europe and Asia, has a profoundly cool observational quality that suggests he sees well beyond the surface of the people he draws...

Daniel Jefferies
(Editor-in-Chief of SIGNED:
Hong Kong Design Institute publication)

...he (Derek Marks) always returns to the environment which nourishes him - to his 'Private Lives, as he has titled one of his most ambitious canvases. There one may see the whole range of complex problems which he has had the courage to take on. The expressive relationships between people are translated into a formal, spatial structure which contradicts the apparent intimacy of the scene. A reflection diminishes the overt drama of an action – perspective warns spectator against intrusive speculation. A ray of light or a cast shadow, has same object status as a shoe. These are the eternal themes of painting, and Derek Marks has chosen them in full knowledge of their fruitful insolubility. He is unlikely to give up.

Stephen McKenna (Artist)

...The immediate impression on looking at any of his (Derek Marks') pictures is one of retinal comfort. The eye is pleased to explore design in his paintings which is at the same time playful and studious. The experience of visual pleasure is in direct response to the balanced composition of forms and the harmonious combination of colours. He is such a master of both that his coloured forms attract one another like magnets. This yeilds a strong sense of unified design in his pictures...

Megakles Rogakos
(Historian and Art Critic)

...Marks' latest work realises his enduring interest and delight in the versatility and variation of the human body, and its function as a medium of expression or commmunication. He allows the human form to take centre stage, to be the gateway to shared emotion, to universal human experience...

Rebecca Bergese
(Artist and Psychotherapist)