Constructions

In the early 1980s, Brian Clarke was experimenting with geometric abstraction, frequently depicting repeating geometric shapes in large compositions. This phase of work was directly inspired by contemporary technology and music, from the light-metering computergrams of Olympus System cameras to the synthetic electronic beats of bands like Kraftwerk. Clarke describes:

In the early 1980s, Brian Clarke was experimenting with geometric abstraction, frequently depicting repeating geometric shapes in large compositions. This phase of work was directly inspired by contemporary technology and music, from the light-metering computergrams of Olympus System cameras to the synthetic electronic beats of bands like Kraftwerk. Clarke describes:

'There were certain kinds of music that seemed to fit with the architecture of the time and I felt that the electronic music of Brian Eno, of Kraftwerk and that period of divo and so on, it was significant in that it changed from the kind of rock and roll thing to something more structured. But something that had about it a sense of the future, a sense of something that was to come [...]'

In his ‘Constructions’, Clarke turned to wood to expand his exploration of these motifs. Undertaken for the Living City exhibition, organised by the East Midlands Arts Association, these works were created in collaboration with the furniture maker Malcolm Nix. Clarke’s signature blocks, which he terms ‘reticules’, were made separately and cut into the wood surface, and painted with a highly polished acrylic finish.