Dave Clark works with a wide range of mediums to create one-of-a-kind compelling sculptural forms, whether 2D or 3D. A master magician of found materials and repurposed ones, Clark makes tables, wall art, and free standing sculptures that rock a viewer’s world.
Clark is currently one of three solo artists that make up the Shapeshifters exhibition now at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan Beach. His inspirations are as varied as his work. “With pieces in the Perception series, [my inspiration] is the
anger and frustration of the manipulation of the populace; the need to communicate what I see as control of what people see and hear via the media. With other pieces it is either the need to do something or to do something that allows me to create an object to stimulate a person’s imagination, as is evident in the Mechanicals series [which is] reflective of the ideas behind my Design Fiction [series],” he explains.
His early work, art created in the 1970s and 1980s was “reflective of what I had in terms of materials and tools. This was heavily influenced by industrial machinery and things that did something. Lots of exploration of materials, shapes,” he relates.
From that era, his worked evolved into what he describes as more of a Pop Art aesthetic, and then “back into pieces that are meant to make the viewer react in some way. Wanting this from my art has allowed me to bounce around from the Skins series to the Mechanical series to the Perception series. And various pieces that don’t fit into anything other being sculptural in nature.,” he attests, admitting that when he becomes bored with a subject or series, he simply moves on.
As to his materials themselves, he notes that “A lot of what I use is mechanical or electrical in nature , or simply something I discovered that can be manipulated to create a texture….a texture to create a reaction.”
At the moment, he is working in the theme of Design Fiction, and has taken that thematically one step further by “creating ‘boxes’
that hold inside something reflective of a ‘reality.’ In this case, something is happening inside that might cause one to imagine their own explanation of this ‘ reality,'” he notes. He explains that he has also revised some of his pieces in an earlier Mechanical series to achieve “a degree of chaos.”
As to what lies ahead, Clark jokes “Fame, fortune… obscurity? No idea really. I just keep plugging along either making what I make or building and supporting the arts community. One day at a time.”
The insight he choose to offer about his work over all is simple and complex: which more or less sums up each of his fascinating sculptural images. “It is what it is. It does what it does, or doesn’t. You tell me. My work is an open invitation. Rather than telling viewers what my art means, I am far more interested in what it means to [others], the conversation that unfolds between a viewer and a piece – that moment of personal recognition or unexpected association – is at the heart of what I make.”
Asked the most unique material he has ever worked with, Clark struggles to choose just one. “That is a tough one. Burned Gorilla Glue? Fabric dyes on paper? Formed concrete?” He adds that what drove him to repurpose electronic and other elements was the “look and feel” of industrial machinery, which he has always loved.
Creating art that is based on what those “machines do or did, or even might do” has been intrinsic to Clark’s process. “Art in the sense of creating or building things that worked, that functioned in some way [appeals to me.] So, using materials in that realm, allowed me to create my own mechanical devices.”
He describes those devices as failling into the overall theme of Design Fiction, a tech and design specific term that talks about the role of make-believe within the world of functional design. “Ideas generated within Design Fiction can be whimsical, inventive and off kilter though not by necessity,. What Design Fiction does is through its use of a prop or a device or a structure – say a thing – presents the ‘thing’ in everyday life as if it’s real. As such it is accepted as fact – it just is – in order to spark the imagination so it can be talked about and bandied about as if it were already real.”
In short, just as a novel creates an entire believable world, visually, Design Fiction does the same. For Clark, his Mechanical Series “can be considered as Design Fiction in that we’re not sure what it is, what it does, or if it does anything… but it very much exists. These seemingly once-functional objects look like they belong in our world, but we just don’t know how or what happened to them to get to the point where they are today. And that lends them a bit of mystery.” In other words, it makes them into the science fiction of art.
Clark has also created his own Design Fiction spin on functional tables that are the coolest must useful art around.
Along with his own awe-inspiringly innovative sculputral work, Clark has also recently created a series of small box galleries.
He describes their existence as based on being able to “share and/or promote art and artists by providing an alternative venue to show smaller scale art works with the larger community. There is no curation, and also no cost to the artist.”
The micro galleries, as he calls them, have created neighborhood art districts, which have also provided not only space but new ways of engaging culturally. They’re built on home owner property at that owner’s request, with more than 40 now spread across Long Beach and four already in the South Bay. Soon there will be more. “It is quite organic in growth with a gallery happening every month of so,” he says.
Clark’s magical mystery tour of sculptural art will be at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach from October 10th to November 1st. The opening reception is on the 10th from 4-7; don’t miss the chance to meet the artist and see these incredibly special works.
- Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist
