August 2016: Reed Clarke

Reed Clark is painter and printmaker. His interest lies in the exploration of portraits and the figure, particularly in the expression of some level of human vulnerability that can only be half masked. His career spent in the field of psychology helped to focus his interest on the representation of persons as subject matter. Reed explains “I try to place subjects in the frame of a narrative arc that lead them to the moment depicted. Of course, I also want to manipulate the elements of line, color, surface texture, tone, shape, etc. for the pure enjoyment of doing so. In the end, I hope to elicit something in my work about being human that the viewer finds familiar and at the same time hard to put into words. If I’m successful, my work, like life, generates more questions than answers. Reed paints on canvas and typically starts a painting by working out much of the composition using acrylic paints to take advantage of their quick drying time. At some point in the process he shift to oil paints because he likes the way they move over the surface when painting and how they present opportunities for texture and color blending. He also works in the etching and monotype process. Each technique offers process and spontaneity, respectively.