I recently visited the Saatchi Gallery.
Upstairs they currently have an exhibition about Brian Clarke (until 27th March 2011) that includes his works on paper, from his collages to his grids, drawings, skull paintings (often compared by critics to works by Warhol, Basquiat and Hirst - artists who displayed in their art a preoccupation with skulls) and studies for stained glass windows.
Clarke is actually more known for the latter, he indeed developed interesting techniques about the bonding of glazed colours, creating in his glass works striking visual effects also thanks to the use of multiple layers that allow him to avoid dividing the windows with lead strap work (Clarke's fascination with glass started in the mid-70s when, for his first exhibition, he had a truck dumping thousands of pieces of broken glass into the open window of a gallery).
There are quite a few works among the ones exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery that may provide you with some inspirations if you are a fashion designer (check out for example his collages incorporating newspapers).
Among them there is a series of paintings with paint tubes from 2010 - “Paint Tubes Organised by Colour”, “Line of Paint Tubes”, “Table of Paint Tubes”, and “Table of Paint Tubes and Caramels”- that looks pretty colourful and radiantly life affirming.
While the series doesn't have the disciplined formality of Clarke's grids, it tackles his obsession with colours and I think it would look perfect if it were transformed into a print for garments and accessories.
I'm embedding here the exhibition catalogue: leaf through it to discover Clarke's works and maybe find further inspirations.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Thankyou for embedding this artists catalogue,as i found this article by chance,i was too late to visit the show.The plates are clear,really good.Inspiring drawings.Came across Brian Clarkes work years back...he was sniffily dismissed by 'artworld'types,probably because he just got on without them and became successful on his own terms and through his own self discipline,ridiculous really.
Posted by: Chris Waddington | May 01, 2011 at 10:06 AM