statement:
My interest in painting derives from formal concerns. I love painting itself: color, light, space, movement, shape, form, balance… and so on. But after painting for some time and viewing more and more works of art and experiencing life in general, I paint for additional reasons. I have distinct feelings, passages, and initiations, of which I paint with a desire to affect the viewer; to present them with a sigil or a nondescript symbol that change their being. The cause and effect may be conscious or unconscious, bold or subtle, on an emotional level or on an intellectual level… where-with I view painting, and the world, as an endless variety of possibilities. I primarily work in an abstract, “non-representational” way because people question it or try to figure out “what it is.” My work is what it is. My work is whatever the viewer gets out of it, and maybe it will be some sort of trigger for them. I don’t want to get stuck in a painting ‘style,’ or appreciation, just as I hope the viewer doesn’t have a formula to consult when viewing any artwork. I only care the viewer gives the work a chance to affect their being. The idea that one has inexhaustible possibilities or opportunities to transform or move into is both hopeful and fearful. What I paint are varieties of atmospheres or “worlds” which sometimes envelope visual objects or “selves” which also vary. Some representational visuals such as suspension, floatation, reflection, or the atmospheres that activate these sorts of actions, for example, suggest an unanchored, uncommitted freedom.
Education:
B.F.A., Painting-1996
Metropolitan State University of Denver – Denver, CO
Selected Exhibitions:
2021 Featured Artist, Frame by Frame, Denver, CO
2010 “Chromatic Alchemy,” Axd Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2009 “Oils on Vinyl,” Stillwaters, Philadelphia, PA
2008 “Perceptions in Buoyancy,” Philadelphia Art Alliance Satellite Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2008 “Distillations,” AxD Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2006 “Art of Communication,” RFD Gallery, Swainsboro, GA
2006 “While Waiting,” The Wait Gallery, London, UK
2005 “Temporal Climate,” Space Gallery, Denver, CO
2003 “New Paintings,” Judish Fine Art, Denver, CO
2003 “Gallery Artists,” Judish Fine Art, Denver, CO
2002 “Being, Environment,& Placement,” SOOP Gallery,Denver,CO
2002 “Chrysalis,” Linoleum Arts, Denver, CO
2002 “Force,” Fresh Art Gallery, Denver, CO
2001 “-000- Otherwise Imaginary Gods,” GOOG, Denver, CO
2001 “Contemporary Encaustic,” Fresh Art Gallery, Denver, CO
2001 “Changing Bodies,” ILK Gallery, Denver, CO
2000 “Sound Representations,” ILK Gallery, Denver, CO
2000 “Various Artists,” ARC Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
1999 “Inconsequential,” Denver Photo Salon, Denver, CO
1999 “Colorado Abstraction: 1975-1999,” Arvada Center for the Arts & Humanities, Arvada, CO
1999 “Group Show,” Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA
1999 “I Am John Clark,” Rocky Mountain School of Art and Design, Denver, CO
1999 “Current 99,” Boettcher Hall & Emmanuelle Gallery, Denver, CO
1998 “Gallery Artists,” RULE Modern & Contemporary, Denver, CO
1998 “Colorado/Wyoming Biennial,” One West Art Center, Ft. Collins, CO
1998 “Go ad-,” Pirate: A Contemporary Art Oasis, Denver, CO
1998 “From the West,” ILK Gallery, Denver, CO
1998 “ILK Group Exhibition,” ILK Gallery, Denver, CO
1997 “Lighthouse From the Body,” Pirate: A Contemporary Art Oasis, Denver, CO
1997 “Group Exhibition,” Pirate: A Contemporary Art Oasis, Denver, CO
1996 “Cultural Diversity,” Tivoli Turnhall, Denver, CO
1996 “Cyber Connections,” EDGE Gallery, Denver, CO
1996 “Honors Thesis Exhibition,” Metro Center for the Visual Arts, Denver, CO
1996 “B.F.A. Thesis Exhibition,”Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO
Selected Collections:
Robin S. Hankinson, Pochahontas, MO
Jaye Griffiths, London, England
Andrew & Gay Gopen, Denver, CO
Edward A. Barnhart, Philadelphia, PA
Stephen A. Humphrey, Denver, CO
Karin Witte, Hamburg, Germany
Robin Rule, Denver, CO
Blackrock Development, Coeur d’Alene, ID
Dennis Law, Denver, CO
Greg Murphy, Philadelphia, PA
Lorna Grey, Denver, CO
Katie Conover, Denver, CO
Valerie Born, New York, NY
The Interior, Las Vegas, NV
Alan Rudy, Boulder, CO
Philip O’Connell, Philadelphia, PA
Publications:
Denver Post: 9/99, Rocky Mountain News: 7/97, 4/98, Sol De News: 10/99, Westword: 5/97, 9/98, 11/98, 9/99, 10/00, 5/03, Cherry Creek Times: 3/98
john clark contemporary 