JOHN CLARKE

bridge

/brij/

noun: bridge;  plural noun: bridges

1. a structure carrying a road, path, railroad or canal across a river, ravine, road, railroad, or other obstacle

- something that is intended to reconcile or form a connection between two things  

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I have always considered myself a painter. Even when I was a teenager, before I had ever even done a painting, I felt like a painter. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel some visceral connection to Van Gogh, self-taught and determined as hell. Later, Cy Twombly showed me that my love for the scribbling of little kids could have a place in the world of the serious artist. No matter what other form my creativity took at any given time, I knew, at heart, that I was a painter.

Sohn Fine Art began representing me during a period when I was focused on photography. The gallery only showed photographs. Over time a question began to form in my mind… how could I combine photography and my love for abstract painting in a way that was personal and real?

I began discussing the idea of an abstract drawing over a large inkjet print with gallery owner Cassandra Sohn. She encouraged me to do one. Orrin’s Ladder no. 1 was the first of this type of work. Moonlight on the Rails and Drive By followed later that year. They laid the groundwork for a new approach to working… hanging one visual language on the balance of another, related but separate, using the photographic print as a backdrop for an emotional, purely personal layer of line, color and symbol.

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This collection of work shows my process of bridging the gap between two media, merging two previously separate and disparate creative outlets.