Ed Clark
Untitled
Untitled
2009 Acrylic on canvas 167.6 x 134 x 1.9 cm / 66 x 52 3/4 x 3/4 in 184.5 x 150.5 x 6.4 cm / 72 5/8 x 59 1/4 x 2 1/2 in (framed)
A poetic treatise on the materiality of paint, ‘Untitled’ (2009) demonstrates Ed Clark’s distinctive approach to abstraction, which is underscored by an expressive force of broad, gestural strokes and ebullient use of color. In ‘Untitled’, bursts of turquoise blue and coral pink marble together, emerging from the energetic swathes of paint that traverse the canvas.
Over the course of seven decades, Ed Clark’s experimentations with abstract form, pure color and the physicality of paint yielded an oeuvre of remarkable originality, extending the language of American abstraction. Clark’s art defies the discreet categories of gestural and hard-edged abstraction; instead, Clark masterfully interweaves both into a unique form of expressionism, sweeping his medium into an atmospheric, emotive, and ultimately exuberant art, of which ‘Untitled’ is an outstanding example.Photo: Wesley Magyar
Ed Clark
Ed Clark's experimentations with pure color, abstract form, and the seductive materiality of paint have yielded an oeuvre of remarkable originality, extending the language of American abstraction. His breakthroughs have an important place in the story of modern and contemporary art: in the late 1950s he was the first American artist credited with exhibiting a shaped canvas, an innovation that continues to reverberate today. His search for a means to breach the limitations of the conventional paintbrush led him to use a push broom to apply pigment to canvas laid out on the floor.