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Biography, Artist Statement, Bibliography, Exhibitions

Biography

Gary Andrew Clarke is a geometric abstract artist. He was born in the vague city of Leicester, England in 1970. He studied graphic arts at Manchester Polytechnic (later Manchester Metropolitan University) from 1989-91. He subsequently spent the following years working within the music industry for a number of major and independent bands. He later settled at the independent Twisted Nerve Records, working 8 years for good friend and the ‘one-man counter revolution’ that is Andy Votel. He still continues to ocassionally work with Andy for his Finders Keepers record label.

In the late 2000s he began to produce pointless geometric art to sell as prints. His work became international noticed in 2009, with a series of work based on well-known works of art reduced down to a simple grid of coloured circles. These have been reproduced in many of the leading design and art blogs. His version of the Mona Lisa, from the series, is on the wall of Twitter’s London HQ. A few others are on the walls of Adidas’ Headquarters in Portland. Their popularity continues to bring home his bacon, and allows him to indulge in evermore wilfully obscure art.

His work has been featured in several popular books and magazines which cover art or design. He has been commissioned by various companies including Joseph Joseph. Some of his more popular work is represented by Felix Rosenstiel's Widow & Son Ltd.

He enjoys a good biscuit.

Artist Statement

Gary Andrew Clarke is an artist of sorts, and an unapologetic child of the naively futuristic early 1970s. He lives in Manchester UK, a city that is wholly irrelevant to his output and success.

The central preoccupation of his artwork is one of creating simple flirtatious encounters between geometric shapes and beautiful intense flat fields of colour. They are often visual puns that might perhaps be elegant solutions to non-existent problems.

Ideas evolve out of stream of consciousness pencil sketching. A fascination with the magical neatness of the golden proportion often informs the overall structure of the work, its internal shapes, and the relationships between the two. The ideas are fine-tuned & constructed with help from Adobe Illustrator, whose files either become the version for print or the study for a painted work.

For him, the choice of colors is of paramount importance, and much of the effort is dedicated to finding the perfect partnership for each work. These colour combinations are deliberately curious and un-conventional, with little interest in colour theory. Arpeggio-style colour sequences are a reoccurring motif.

The artworks have no narrative and are deliberately non-representational. They are not about any dramatic human condition or emotion, and are ultimately devoid of any meaning whatsoever. To quote Frank Stella, ‘What you see is what you see.’

His work is not intended to be minimalist; it is borne out of a love of the ideas found in the 1960s-70s Hard Edge & Geometric Abstraction scenes. The art of Albers, Bayer, Claisse, Benjamin, Bill, and Noland are particularly influential. Albers’ ‘Homage to the Square’ is the work of art he admires above all others.

He has produced some 700 digital pieces over the last 5 years, some of which are available as prints on his website & other leading online art print galleries. In 2012 he moved to exploring his work on canvas, with precisely painted interpretations in acrylic.

He has found that these are a far more exciting way for the ideas to exist - there are now over 30 pieces - and the future will see him focus further on painting.

Bibliography

I've never really had much time for art that involves actual pictures of actual things, and this is my guide to geometric abstract art, artists & books...

Bibliography: A best of.

This is my personal 'Geometric abstraction top 12' on Pinterest.

Bibliography: Artists of note.

These are the artists whose work I'm particularly obsessed with.

Herbert Bayer (Austrian (1900 - 1985) - particularly his paintings / screen prints from the early 1960s to early 1970s.

Max Bill (Swiss artist, 1908 - 1994) - particularly his paintings from the late 1950s to early 1970s.

Geneviève Claisse (French artist, 1935 - ) - she created this wonderful set of work in the late 60s.

Anton Stankowski (German artist, 1906 - 1998) - particularly these works.

Josef Albers (German artist, 1888 - 1976) - particularly these works.

Otto Heinrich Treumann (German-Dutch artist 1919 - 2001) - particularly these works.

Kenneth Noland (American artist, 1924 - 2010)

Victor Vasarely (Hungarian–French artist,1906 - 1997)

Frederick Hammersley (American artist, 1919 - 2009) - particularly these works.

Richard Mortensen (Denmark artist, 1910-1993) - particularly these works.

Sol LeWitt (American artist, 1928 - 2007)- particularly these works.

Verner Panton (Denmark furniture & interior designer, 1926 - 1998) - particularly these works.

Barbara Brown (British fabric & potterydesigner, 1932 - ) - particularly these works.

Susan Williams-Ellis (British pottery designer,1918 - 2007) - particularly these works.

John Clappison (British pottery designer, 1937 - 2013)- particularly these works.

Walter Allner (German designer & artist, 1909 - 2006) - particularly these works.

Carlo Vivarelli (Swiss designer & artist, 1919-1986) - particularly these works.

Auguste Herbin (French artist, 1882 - 1960) - particularly these works.

Ellsworth Kelly (American artist, 1923 - )

Jean Rets (Belgium artist, 1910 - 1998)

Karl Benjamin (American artist, 1925 - 2012)

Barnett Newman (American artist, 1905 - 1970)

Kenneth Martin (English artist, 1905 - 1984)

Ben Nicholson (British artist, 1894 - 1982)

Walter Ponsaert (Dutch artist, 1924 - 1991)

Bibliography: Selected books.

The links below go to Abebooks.com for further information...

The Geometric Unconscious: A Century of Abstraction. Edited by Jorge Daniel Veneciano. University of Nebraska Press (2012). ISBN 0803240929

Concrete Art in Europe since 1945: The Peter C. Ruppert Collection. Hatje Cantz (2002). ISBN 3775711910

Abstraction Geometry Painting: In America Since 1945 by Michael Auping. Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1989). ISBN 0810910276

Contrasts of Form. Geometric abstract art, 1910-1980 by Magdalena Dabrowski. Museum of Modern Art (1985) ISBN 0870702874

Kenneth Noland: A Retrospective by Diane Waldham. Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (1977). ISBN 0810913534

Max Bill - Five Decades by Angela Thomas. Annely Juda Fine Art (2011). ISBN 1904621422

Herbert Bayer: Recent Works. Introduction by Jan Van der Marck. Marlborough Gallery (1971). ASBN B0027WVL02

Josef Albers: A Retrospective. Guggenheim Museum Pubns (1988). ISBN 0810918765

Frank Stella by William S. Rubin. Museum of Modern Art (1970). ASIN 9780810960749

Karl Benjamin and the Evolution of Abstraction: 1950-1980. Louis Stern Fine Arts (2011). ISBN 0983787107

Bridget Riley: Complete Prints 1962-2010 by Lynn MacRitchie, Hartley Craig. Ridinghouse (2010). ISBN 1905464282

Ben Nicholson by Norbert Lynton. Phaidon Press (1998). ISBN 0714837504

Ellsworth Kelly: A Retrospective by Ellsworth Kelly, Diane Waldman. Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (1997). ISBN 0810968975

Design as Art by Bruno Munari. Penguin Global (2009). ISBN 0141035811

Kenneth Martin by Kenneth Martin. Tate Gallery (1975). ISBN 900874902

Bibliography: Films.

Painters Painting: The New York Art Scene 1940-1970 (released 1973). by Emile de Antonio. Features interviews with Frank Stella & Kenneth Noland.

Solo Exhibition

17 January to 24 March 2013 – “Gary Andrew Clarke” - The Civic, Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.

Group Exhibitions

30 September 2012 – “One Day wonder[ment]” - Alexandra Park Arts, Manchester, England.
5-7 February 2010 – “Anarchy vs. Order / Design Walk 2010” - Athens, Greece.
8-11 April 2010 “CONTROL” - EASA HQ, Manchester.

Publications and selected press

Foundations of Design by Jeff Davis, Wadsworth Publishing (2012)
Print Pattern 2 by Bowie Style, Laurence King (2011)
Eight:48 Issue 3 & 4 (2010)

Online Portfolios

On a clear blue day, you can/could/should/perhaps visit & see...

www.graphicnothing.com (Digital work)
www.garyandrewclarke.com (Paintings)
on Facebook
Some blog
On Flickr
On Cargocollective