We are pleased to share a small group of works by Ed Clark (born 1926, New Orleans), made in New York in the 1970s.
The oval or ellipse motif developed while Clark was working in France. "I began to feel something was wrong. Our eyes don't see in rectangles. I was interested in an expanding image, and the best way to expand an image is the oval or ellipse. It seemed to me that the oval as a natural shape could best express movement extended beyond the limits of the canvas." Clark's Yucatan Series was inspired by a working trip to Mexico.
There is resurgent interest in Clark's abstract expressionist works and long overdue since the Studio Museum in Harlem's 1980 retrospective. Recent and acclaimed museum exhibitions, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at the Tate Modern in London and the Brooklyn Museum; and the Museum of Modern Art's The Long Run included works by Ed Clark. Major museums holding his works in permanent collections include the Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Art Institute, Studio Museum in Harlem and the Museum of Modern Art.
Source: E. Clark and Q. Troupe, "For the Sake of the Search: An Interview with Ed Clark by Quincy Troupe," in Edward Clark: For the Sake of the Search, (Belleville Lake, MI, Belleville Lake Press, 1997)
