(Above: Detail from At the Farmer’s Market, by artist Mark Clarke)
By Randi Bjornstad
Gallerist Karin Clarke puts up a show at least once a year of artwork by Mark Clarke, her late father and renowned Pacific Northwest painter. The fact that she can still organize exhibits that aren’t repetitive is proof of what a prolific and versatile artist the elder Clarke was.
The full view of Mark Clarke’s At the Farmer’s Market
This time around, the show is called Mark Clarke (1935-2016): Modernist, and Karin Clarke said she and her mother, Margaret Coe, who also is a well-known artist, designed this show to reveal “a whole different side of his works, especially to last year’s Classics show (of) soft landscapes.”
This time, viewers will see more “bold color and design,” Clarke said. “It includes his acrylic collages as well as abstractions that include invented figures. There are tiny pieces — 5-inch squares — as well as a few larger works, but mostly smaller.”
The show presents collages next to paintings that employ some of the same qualities of design and color, plus figures imagined by Clarke that don’t necessarily represent specific subjects. Instead, the figures are simplified or even more abstracted, some highly textured and other times unassumingly plain.
Mark Clarke (1935-2016): Modernist
When: Through July 27; opening reception 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 5
Where: Karin Clarke Gallery, 760 Willamette St., Eugene
Gallery hours: Noon to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
Information: 541-684-7963 or karinclarkegallery.com
Man and Painting with Yellow Shape, by Mark Clarke, another painting in the July show of the late artist’s work
