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Treasures and Relics
Treasures and Relics
2011
Treasures and Relics is a series of four square paintings created by Brian Clarke in 2011. Each work in the series depicts one of Clarke's most prominent motifs at its center: a Spitfire plane, a Porsche sports car, a paint tube and the French royal symbol, the fleur de lys. These are rendered in white calligraphic lines against a blue dripping-paint pattern set on a black ground.
In 2020, Clarke commented on the motifs featured in this series:
"I’ve never been interested in cars or modes of transport – I only know the names of ones from when I was a kid. But the Spitfire and the Porsche and the battleship have always seemed to me to have something of perfection in their design. They are anonymous in their beauty, like the fleur de lys, and compelling, like heraldic ciphers of the 20th century."