TONY CLARK, JOANNE RITSON

Clark’s paintings reinterpret motifs from the histories of art, architecture and the decorative arts in ongoing bodies of work that repeat and reconfigure familiar themes, building an iterative visual language that is distinctively his own.

Departing from a conventional survey, the exhibition has been developed in collaboration with the artist and focuses on his sustained interest in the representation of sculpture and sculptural relief through painted form.

The exhibition includes studies from the artist’s archives that reveal early explorations into the interplay between two- and three-dimensional form, alongside new commissions such as a series of sculptures produced in collaboration with fellow artist Joanne Ritson, which transport Clark’s interest in three-dimensional form into new territory.

Tony Clark has described his frequent use of sculptural modelling in painted form as a tripwire strategy that ‘distances the painting from painting’. Through his dedication to painting and consideration of its relationship to sculpture and other creative forms, Clark breaks down distinctions between artistic genres and mediums, unravelling the claims and posturings of painting from within.