PLAY! A Retro-Speculative – Paintings by Sally Clark
Opening: July 23, 2024 7-9pm
Artist Tour: July 30th, 2024 7-8pm
Exhibition: July 23 – August 29, 2024
Monday – Friday 10am-5pm, Tuesdays until 8:00pm
Lipont Gallery is honoured to present PLAY! A Retro-Speculative, an exhibition of oil paintings by Vancouver-based artist Sally Clark.
This year, we were pleased to discover a group of oil paintings created by Clark in the late 1970s. These works are astonishing. There’s a joy in these paintings that elicit a yearning in people and inspire curiosity about that era. As stated in Wong Kar-wai’s film In the Mood for Love: “That era has passed, and everything belonging to that era no longer exists.” Every era has its own qualities that define it. With her unique painting style, Sally Clark provides us with an amazing perspective on those times.
Unlike Clark’s recent series of paintings, ‘The Divine Insider,’ which focuses close-up on the human face, treating it as a landscape, in this series of works, ‘PLAY!,’ Clark investigates the zeitgeist of the era by presenting full-length portraits. Her subjects are juxtaposed with vivid colours and geometric shapes, emblematic of the 1970s and which, in a curious way, reflect and embody the sitters. Clark says: “I embarked on this series because I was inspired by my love of Manet’s early paintings and the way he challenged social stereotypes. Making a social statement was my plan.”
In 1970s, the art world had seen a burgeoning of ideas in art movements, including land art, performance art, feminist art, etc. Marginalized people continued their fight for justice and equality. And Clark’s works capture the spirit of her subjects and convey the beauty, vulnerability, glamour and joy of that time. Most of the paintings in the exhibition were created in Toronto in the late 1970s. The characters in the paintings are either personal friends, actors in costumes, or people exploring a fantasy. The exaggerated, patterned backgrounds, old furniture, the poses of the protagonists and the props they brought are like scenarios created in a film, making the atmosphere of each painting humorous, beckoning, relaxed, warm, or mysterious… urging us to enter the world of the person and engage in the stories that lie within.
The exhibition also includes a rare self-portrait of Clark that evokes a science fiction movie. It which allows us to have a deeper understanding of Clark, who is both a painter and an award-winning playwright. It is not difficult to see that Clark “performed” a series of “dramas” with her oil paintings in the 1970s. Half a century later, everyone’s life is still being played out like a drama. We ourselves are the characters in the drama, and it’s time for a retro speculative!
戏！复古思辨 – 萨利·克拉克绘画展
开幕：2024年7月23日7-9pm
画家导览：2024年7月30日7-8pm
展览：2024年7月23日 – 8月29日
周一至五10am-5pm开放，周二至晚8:00时
Lipont画廊很荣幸呈现【戏!复古思辨】展览，本次展览将展出温哥华艺术家莎利·克拉克 (Sally Clark) 的22幅油画作品。
今年，我们喜出望外地发现了克拉克在二十世纪70年代末创作的一组油画。这些作品令人惊叹并使我们对那个时代产生好奇和向往。正如王家卫电影【花样年华】中所说：“那个时代已经过去，属于那个时代的一切都不复存在了”。每个时代都有属于自己的特质。莎利·克拉克以其独特的绘画风格带领着我们一窥二十世纪70年代。
与克拉克的近期系列画作【神圣内幕】不同，她的这一系列作品【戏！】，不以特写的方式聚焦于人脸，将其视为风景，而是通过呈现全身肖像来探讨时代精神。她的人物与背景中生动的色彩和几何形状交相呼应，回应着70 年代，并反映和体现了画中的人物们。克拉克说：“我开始创作这个系列是源于我对马奈早期绘画的热爱，并受到他挑战社会刻板印象的方式的启发。发表社会声明是我的初衷。”
二十世纪70年代，各种艺术运动思潮不断涌现，包括大地艺术、行为艺术、女性主义艺术等。边缘人群继续为正义和平等而奋斗。克拉克的作品完美捕捉了她的主体精神，传达了那个时代的美丽、脆弱、魅力和欢乐。展览中的大部分画作都创作于70年代末的多伦多。画中的人物或者是画家的私人朋友，或者是穿着戏服的演员，或者是探索幻想的人。夸张的图案背景、古老的家具、主角的姿态以及他们带来的道具，就像电影场景一样，让每件作品的气氛或幽默、或诱人、或轻松、或温馨、或神秘…引领着我们走进主角的世界并参与其中的故事。
展览还将展出一幅罕见的克拉克自画像，仿佛科幻电影场景一般。让我们对她既是画家又是获奖剧作家的身份有了更深入的了解。不难看出，克拉克在70年代用她的油画“上演”了一系列“戏剧”。半个世纪过去了，每个人的生活依然如戏剧般上演。我们自己就是剧中人物，是时候来一场复古思辨了！
Artist Statement
PLAY! A Retro-Speculative
Sally Clark
Art is a form of magic. It is a means of connecting with another being, through time and space.
I did these paintings many years ago and the people portrayed are now communicating with us.
I embarked on this series because I was inspired by my love of Manet’s early paintings and the way he challenged social stereotypes. Making a social statement was my original plan.
But something happens when you work from life, when you take the time to study the reality that is before you.
At first, I saw the subjects as they conformed to my expectations. But in the middle of my painting trance, I was suddenly jolted out of my preconceived ideas and saw something else, something astonishing. I call it ‘the moment of dissolve,’ when what you are looking at, reveals itself to you.
The subjects of these paintings are complicit in the creation. They reveal themselves.
They wear their work clothes or perhaps, a costume. Sometimes, they choose to be naked.
We have the time.
We play.
艺术家陈述
【戏！复古思辨】
萨利·克拉克
艺术是一种魔法。它是跨越时间和空间与另一个存在联系的一种方式。
这些油画作品是我多年前创作的，而画中的人们现在正在与我们交流着。
这组作品的初衷来自于我对马奈 (Édouard Manet 1832-1883) 早期画作的热爱以及他挑战社会刻板印象的方式给我带来的灵感。我最初的目的是表达关于社会的声明。
而当你的创作来源于生活，当你花时间研究眼前的现实时，事情就发生了。
起初，我看到的主题符合我的期望。但在我绘画的恍惚中，我突然从先入为主的想法中惊醒，看到了其他的东西，一些令人惊讶的东西。我称之为“消散的时刻”，当你所看的东西向你展现时。
这些作品中的主人公们其实也参与了创作——他们展现了自己。
他们穿着工作服，或戏服。有时，他们选择赤身裸体。
我们徐徐而作。
我们玩耍。
Sally Clark – Artist Biography
Originating from Vancouver, Sally Clark grew up among the wild landscape of British Columbia. As an accomplished and prolific artist with an extensive exhibition history, she has had solo exhibitions sponsored by the Granville Island Cultural Society, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and North Vancouver Arts Council. An artist of multiple talents, she is also a celebrated playwright and filmmaker, her plays having received a Governor General’s Award nomination. Clark’s multi-layered approach to oil painting emulates the Old Masters by developing her compositions “through underpainting and overpainting, so that the colour is formed optically by the light passing through the layers.
Born in Vancouver Canada, Sally Clark has been painting in oils since she was twelve. She completed her B.F.A. degree at York University in Toronto. She lived in Toronto for thirty years and her paintings were exhibited in several galleries during that time. Clark has also written several award-winning plays, which have been produced in Canada and the United States. Her novel, “Waiting for the Revolution” was published by Cormorant Books in 2010. The Granville Island Cultural Society, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre and the North Vancouver Arts Council have sponsored solo exhibitions of her paintings. Her work has been in many FCA group shows, receiving four Honourable Mentions. She received the 2nd Prize at the FCA POTE (Painting on the Edge) Exhibition in 2016. Sally Clark was one of the Finalists for the Kingston Portrait Prize in 2017.
“I believe that painting is about communicating to an unknown observer the feeling of stillness.
‘This is how it feels to be here in this moment of time.’
I paint to get at the essence of my subject, to understand its mystery. I paint in layers, through under-painting and over-painting so that the colour is formed optically, by the light passing through the layers.
I want to create the feeling one has, when light suddenly hits a surface and there is a moment of illumination. I wish to engage the viewer in this sense of mystery, these apparitions of light.”
萨利·克拉克 – 艺术家简介
Sally Clark（萨利·克拉克）出生于加拿大温哥华，从十二岁起就开始用油画作画。她完成了她的艺术学士学业，并在多伦多约克大学获得博士学位。她在多伦多生活了三十年，她的画作在此期间在几家画廊展出。克拉克还创作了多部获奖剧本，并在加拿大和美国制作。她的小说《等待革命》于 2010 年由 Cormorant Books 出版。格兰维尔岛文化协会、温哥华东部文化中心和北温哥华艺术委员会赞助了她的画作个展。她的作品曾多次参加 FCA （加拿大艺术家协会）群展，获得四项荣誉奖。她于 2016 年在 FCA POTE（边缘绘画）展览中获得二等奖。 Sally Clark 是 2017 年金斯顿肖像奖的入围者之一。
作为一位拥有丰富展览历史的多产艺术家，她曾举办过由格兰维尔岛文化协会、温哥华东部文化中心和北温哥华艺术委员会赞助的个展。 作为多才多艺的艺术家，她还是著名的剧作家和电影制作人，她的戏剧曾获得总督奖提名。 克拉克的多层次油画方法模仿了古代大师，通过“通过底色和上色来发展她的构图，这样颜色是由穿过层的光在光学上形成的。
“我相信绘画是向未知的观察者传达静止的感觉。
这就是此时此刻在这里的感觉。
我画画是为了了解我的主题的本质，了解它的奥秘。我通过底涂和重涂分层绘画，以便通过光线穿过图层以光学方式形成颜色。
我想创造一种感觉，当光线突然照射到表面并有片刻的照明时。我希望让观众沉浸在这种神秘感，这些光的幻影中。” –萨利·克拉克
