Description
KELLY CLARK (1935 - 1995) STUDIO #3MIXED MEDIA; SIGNED, DATED 1985 AND TITLED IN PENCIL LOWER RIGHT29.75" x 22.25" - 75.6 x 56.5 cm. Provenance:Purchased directly from the artist Note:KELLY CLARK (1935 - 1995)"The divine is the core of our humanity. It is what art must express. ... It is largely intuitive, not consciously willed. It is certainly not determined by what is in vogue".- Kelly Clark -Kelly Clark, born in St. Vital, Manitoba, in 1935, was encouraged into the arts by his mother, a gifted artist who took classes at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and introduced Kelly to the artwork of the Canadian Group of Seven. He received his diploma in Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba's School of Art in 1958, studying under George Swinton, Richard Williams, Robert Bruce and Robert Nelson, and continued his pursuit of visual art in London, England, for four years. A Canada Council grant allowed him to study watercolor for six weeks under the Austrian expressionist, Oskar Kokoschka, in Salzburg, Austria. He returned to Manitoba where he was the art director of Omphalos, an alternative Winnipeg newspaper, until 1970, and of Canadian Dimension, until his death in 1989. During this period, however, he spent five years living in a cabin in the Delta Marsh, where he worked solely on his art. Clark participated in a number of exhibits throughout his career and his works are found in many private and corporate art collections, yet he never took much interest in the marketing end of the art business, preferring to be the artist's artist and spend his time creating. Clark was a prolific artist, working in oil, water colour, tempera, all drawing media, hand-tinted lithograph, etching combined with aquatint, and various media. In 1998 the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Gallery 1.1.1., University of Manitoba School of Art, mounted a retrospective of his works, from which was produced an award winning art book entitled Kelly Clark. Clark was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 1993. He continued painting through his difficult treatments, also exacerbated by the loss of his studio space which he occupied for the past 25 years. During his fight with the disease, Clark created his Cancer Series, a record of his remarkable journey from inner terror to serenity. In the last six months of his life, Clark was able to execute his Cancer Self Portraits, a triptych that expressed the difficulty of his decision to undergo such radical surgery which became the foundation of his Cancer Series. Clark passed away in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1995.Selected Corporate, Private and Public CollectionsBank of Montreal CollectionCanada Council Art BankClaridge Collection, Montreal, QCCollection of the President, University of ManitobaFaculty of Medicine Collection, University of ManitobaGallery 1.1.1., School of Art, University of ManitobaJames Richardson & Sons CollectionNational Gallery of CanadaProvince of Manitoba CollectionRoyal Bank CollectionSt. John's College Collection, University of ManitobaUkrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, WinnipegWinnipeg Art Gallery Selected Solo Exhibitions2009Fleet Gallery, Winnipeg, MB1987 Tip of the Iceberg, Fleet Gallery, Winnipeg, MB1983 Windows on the Top of the Mountain, Brian Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, MBWindows into the Volcano,The Frances Street Gallery, Winnipeg, MB1981The Portage Plains: 2, Brian Melnychenko Gallery, Winnipeg, MBThe Portage Plains, Moosehead Press Gallery, Winnipeg, MB1979Highway 240 and Back Again, Don Proch Studio, Winnipeg, MB Watercolour, pastel, drawing, mixed media 1975Me and my Shadows, Plug-In Gallery, Winnipeg, MB1971Just a Few LInes to Say I Love You, Printmakers Gallery, Winnipeg, MB Selected Group Exhibitions1987Summer Landscape Exhibition, Gallery 454, Winnipeg, MB1988Self-Portrait Exhibition, Gallery 454, Winnipeg, MB1987-90 Moosehead Press: Prints, Travelling Exhibition: USA and Canada 1986Moosehead at Moorhead: Prints, Moorhead, N.D., USA 1984Fleet Gallery, Winnipeg, MB 1983 Printmakers, Winnipeg Art Gallery, MBPrint Legend, Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop, Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, Winnipeg, MBPrintmakers, Gallery 1.1.1. University of Manitoba School of Art, Winnipeg, MBPrintmakers, Warehouse Art Works, Winnipeg, MBPrintmakers, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg, MB1982Art in Winnipeg: 1955-59, Gallery 1.1.1. School of Art, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB 1981Prints, Anna Lowens Gallery, Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, Halifax, NS 1980Harbor Front Gallery, Toronto, ONPrintmakers, Quiet Room Gallery, St. John's College, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB1979 Printmakers, Gallery Graphics, Ottawa, ONPrintmakers, Janet Ian Cameron Gallery, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MBMoosehead Press Lithographs, Upstairs Gallery, Winnipeg, MB1965Isaac's Gallery,Toronto, ON1964 Soundings One, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England1961Young Commonwealth Contemporaries, London, EnglandYoung Contemporaries, London Public Library/Art Museum, London, ON. Selected List of Awards1985Manitoba Arts Council, Short Term Grant: re: printmaking1983Manitoba Arts Council, Project Grant; to assist in the mounting of exhibition Windows into the Volcano1979Manitoba Arts Council Major Arts Grant; to continue producing art, Delta, Manitoba1978Canada Council Grant; to work at Delta, Manitoba, and to produce three lithographsLithograph THE SAILOR / juried winner / Haddasa Exhibition; purchased by Winnipeg Art Gallery for permanent collection1971Canada Council Grant; to research erotic art in Canada1962Canada Council Grant; to study with Oskar Kokoschka, Salzburg, Austria Selected LinksIn the Silent Hours: The Cancer Paintings of Kelly ClarkImage Makers : Kelly ClarkMemorable Manitobans: Kelly ClarkFace Value, Border Crossings magazine, 66-67, August 1997