Small Bacchanal (Primary Title)
John Clem Clarke, American, 1937 - 2021 (Artist)
"Art about art is a continuous thread through my work." —John Clem Clarke
Clarke’s witty fusion of Photorealism and Pop Art involved a dense process of photographs, projections, stenciling, airbrushing, and sponging. Interested in commercial printing processes, he created works that deliberately looked mechanically produced, covering the tracks of the artist’s hand.
Small Bacchanal, part of Clarke’s Old Master series, refers to a work by the Italian painter Caravaggio (1571–1610).Clarke restaged the painting, posing his friends in Roman garb, and took a photograph to use as a source. The painting’s white border, which recalls the margin around a printed reproduction, reinforces the image as an appropriation, ostensibly produced by mechanical means but in actuality handmade.
Realism in a Post-Modern World: Selections from the Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, VA, January 21 – March 25, 1990
Spotlight Loan, Piedmont Fine Association, Martinsville, VA, June 28 – Aug 29, 1988
Spotlight Loan, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA, March 23 – May 9, 1988
Contemporary American Paintings from the Lewis Collection, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, September 13 – October 27, 1974
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