Born in Oregon into an artistic family in 1966, Mark Ghiglieri has had art in his blood since the beginning. His father is the famous sculptor and painter Lorenzo Ghiglieri. Mark and his two siblings learned early in life to have fun, be creative, and not be afraid of risks.

The family grew up on a ranch where fishing, hunting and exploring were the norm.

Mark graduated from Lake Oswego High School. He joined the Army in 1987 and was trained in Fort Knox, Kentucky, and stationed in Fort Polk, Louisiana. Mark has always enjoyed coming up with pranks and getting people to laugh. While on leave one weekend, Mark and a friend thought it would be fun to wallpaper the barracks bathroom with fake $20 bills. Being creative and with a sense of humor, they made some two-sided copies and also gave some to friends as a joke. Mark would soon learn the government didn’t find any humor in the newly decorated bathroom or two-sided bills – they prosecuted him for counterfeiting. He served 10 months of a 3-year sentence.

Soon after, Mark began to develop his interest in art. He traveled with his father to an art show and enjoyed the exposure to the variety of art and the business that ensued as a result of making art available to a broad audience. Once back at home, Mark began working with his father to market Lorenzo’s art. Mark realized that because he was passionate and enthusiastic about his father’s art, and understood completely how it was created, it was much easier to be successful at selling it to qualified buyers. Over the years, Mark has sold more than $100 million worth of his family’s various works around the globe. Both his brother and sister are artists as well.

Unfortunately Mark’s success in the art world was interrupted. He had another encounter with law enforcement as a result of a pipe bomb explosion one weekend in January 1992. He was setting off home-made fireworks near a river with friends. Because of the previous counterfeiting charge, he was now considered a felon in possession of an explosive device. As a result, he spent 10 months in a federal prison camp in Sheridan, Oregon. Mark’s intentions were never to be malicious or destructive. He learned through his difficult experiences that his tendency to take risks must be harnessed and used wisely.

Therefore, following the stint in Sheridan, Mark continued to develop his entrepreneurial side and mixed it with his artistic side. He developed a business plan for a company of his own to reproduce some of his father’s paintings and purchase the moulds from his bronze sculptures. He raised enough capital to build a casting foundry to maintain control over manufacturing and cast samples when needed to display in galleries throughout the US. Mark raised the capital through a large investment by Phillip Morse, at the time the largest stock holder in Pfizer and the founder of Snyder Nymic. The two purchased Lorenzo Ghiglieri’s existing bronze mould collection and the rights to reproduce approximately 20 of his original paintings. The foundry was built in Wilsonville, Oregon and named Millennium Fine Arts. The company was quickly successful and employed 35 at its height. In 1996 Mark sold his interest in the company to pursue a unique business idea.

In 1998 Mark sat in awe at a charity auction as he watched a bronze sculpture that a local doctor had donated go through a bidding war with the piece eventually selling for $63,000. The doctor had purchased the piece from Mark with the intention of donating it to help the charity raise funds. As a result, Mark envisioned a company that could be philanthropic in nature, provide charities with fine art to auction, and be profitable.

Mark’s family was raised with a charitable conscience. His father has donated hundreds of pieces of art over the years to charities. Mark formed Provenance Fine Art to create success between his new company and the charities it partnered with. He commissioned new pieces of art from his brother Laran and his father and bought the rights to use his sister Rebecca’s sculpture of a mother and child.

The idea was to call charities and offer a sculpture for auction. Provenance would split the profits with the charities. It was a win-win for both entities. The charities received appraisals and reader boards complete with the sculpture’s history and artist information. The charity had no expenses related to the donation, but was the beneficiary of half the proceeds. It was ideal. The company took off like a rocket. There was more demand for the art than there were pieces. Mark hired more people and had two foundries working to support the demand. The charities were reaping the benefits and Provenance was profitable.

However, for some reason there are those who found the idea that a company would profit from charities distasteful. But those that complained failed to see that much of what goes on at auctions is handled by for-profit companies. The auctioneer takes a cut; the computer system companies charge a fee, etc.

Provenance grew incredibly fast – from 8 employees to 100 in just 9 months. Provenance was participating in over 500 auctions around the country per month and selling approximately 700-1,000 Ghiglieri sculptures per month. At the time Mark needed to raise capital to keep up with the demand. He found a partner, Roger Pollock, who was willing to invest and work alongside Mark to champion the company’s success. They continued to grow the company, but soon realized they had different ideas for the company’s future and growth path. Mark eventually sold his interest to his friend Roger. But just two years later Mark took over the reigns for a short time, only to sell Provenance for a hefty profit to former GI Joes founder David Orkney.


Mark then took some time to enjoy his hobbies. He’s an avid helicopter pilot, sport fisherman, outdoor enthusiast and traveler.

An artist himself, in 2004 Mark began painting in an airplane hanger in Aurora, Oregon. He wanted to create art that was different from the traditional Lorenzo family art. His father, mother and siblings are artists that use realism. Mark wanted to experiment in the abstract and create something that wasn’t a copy of another style, but rather his own unique style. He created a persona “Selvaggia” (meaning “wild” in Italian) to be the inspiration for the art. Similar to book authors that use another pen name, he used a different name for his different style of art.

He created 30-50 pieces and wanted more inventory, so he hired Joel Benson as his assistant. The two painted side-by-side for 10 months using the same technique to create more Selvaggia paintings. Many famous artists such as Dale Chihully and Thomas Kinkade work with assistants to help create their art. Joel was paid a salary and when the paintings sold he was going to receive a percentage of the sales.

Mark began developing marketing materials and a website with the background on “Marco Selvaggia.” However, Mark had to put the marketing of the paintings on hold to pursue a new project, “Sovereign Charity Group.” The group provided high end wine to charities.

In the meantime, the paintings Mark did together with Joel sat in a warehouse for a year. Unfortunately Joel heard a rumor that Mark had sold them for $20 million dollars. Thinking he had not received his percentage of the profit, Joel filed a legal complaint against Mark. Because the rumor was completely false, the complaint was dismissed. Mark brought 100 paintings out of storage and gave them to Joel to serve as his percentage of future profit. The partnership was amicably settled. (See Case dismissed!).

Mark continues to pursue his passion for the art world and his interest in philanthropy. He works closely with his father and siblings on marketing their art. He is in the process of filing for non-profit registration for his personal foundation so that he can work with charities to provide 100% donations. He is also beginning work on his autobiography, “Raised on Adrenaline.”