About
Clark’s paintings dig deep to try and understand what it means to be a New Zealander and asks;
“What makes a national identity and what gives the inhabitants of a country sentimental feelings and nostalgia for their country’s past”.
Exhibition Catalogue, 110 Pounds of Honey, Milford Galleries Queenstown May 2023.
He does this through a critical and simultaneously optimistic exploration of the structure that we know as Kiwiana. While Clark has been painting since the late 1980s it is this question that has preoccupied him since he completed his MFA [ first class honours ] in 2002. Using the concepts of; The Hyperreal, Barthesian Myth and Magical Realism as entry points, he has created one of the most sustained, critical, practice – led visual investigations of Kiwiana conducted within Aotearoa New Zealand.
While the central theme is local the concerns are global. Clark examines Kiwiana in relation to a range of contemporary issues which provide the viewer with the opportunity to read the work on a variety of different levels.
“The works are pointed in their message, but are also highly attractive, enjoyably humorous and beautifully made’’.
Review, Hot Pools Exhibition, Milford Galleries, Otago Daily Times, Art Seen, Oct 12, 2017, James Dignan.
In each painting Clark creates a magical world, which is grounded in a type of intensive representational realism, introducing subject matter to interrogate this realistic world. Through this process Clark manages do that difficult, but if successful, captivating thing, which is to offer opposite, contradictory points of view within the same work.
“Working from the maxim, more is more, Clark’s works demand immediate attention; gold leaf, optical patterning, repeated motifs, and high contrast colours are all designed to attract the gaze. As the gaze lingers however, the subtle detailing and surface treatments tell more stories which Clark is interested. As he layers images and composes spaces, he likewise layers ideas and composes his own historical constructs.”
Exhibition Catalogue, Simon Clark, Knitting Patterns, Milford Galleries, August 2014.
Based on the increasing popularity of Kiwiana it would seem that many New Zealanders choose to identify, to some degree, with the everyday artefacts and system of meanings that are part of the Kiwiana discourse. Much of Clark’s work is motivated by the urge to understand why this is happening and why, for example the Kiwiana artefacts, related to packaging, souvenirs and advertising, much of which can be purchased from two-dollar shops, car boot sales, second hand shops and the local dairy are gradually gathering the status usually attributed to sacred treasures.
“…. while the liberal use of gold leaf in Simon Clark’s Nature Culture series creates an ethereal glow, as if the works are lit from within. They might be panels from a grand, ancient monument, but the opulent is paired with the ordinary. In Nature Culture and Things That are Not Broken, an old honey container, used as makeshift vase holds a vast profusion of wildflowers that seem to push out of the composition, butterflies still hovering around the cut blooms”
Review, Studio 9A Exhibition, Milford Galleries, Otago Daily Times, Art Seen, January 2022, Laura Elliot.
Simon Clark now works full time in his studio but was previously a senior lecturer at the AUT University School of Art and Design where he held several key positions throughout his tenure and in 2016 was awarded The Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies Teaching Award.
He has been painting and exhibiting since the 1980s and has been a finalist in several Awards and was winner of the National Beecham Laboratories Art Award. His works are held in the collections of The James Wallace Trust, the University of Otago, the Auckland University of Technology as well as in private collections throughout New Zealand, Australia, America, Britain and Denmark.
The work included in this collection of Limited Edition Prints is selected from exhibitions of his paintings presented at Milford Galleries Dunedin and Queenstown, one of New Zealand's leading dealer art galleries.
EXHIBITED WORKS:
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Simon Clark, 110 Pounds of Honey, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2019 Simon Clark, The Magical World of Souvenirs and Mementos, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2017 Simon Clark, Hot Pools, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2014 Simon Clark, Knitting Patterns, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2010 Simon Clark, A New Coat of Paint, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2002 Happiland, Grantham Gallery, Auckland
1996 Fence, Solo Exhibition, Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland
Group Exhibitions
2024 The Whakatipu Chronicle, Milford Galleries, Queenstown
2023 The Review, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2023 Kawarau 2, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2021 Studio 9A, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2021 New Works, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2020 The Arrow, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2019 The Wakatipu Chronicle, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2019 Spring Catalogue, Milford Gallerie, Queenstown
2018 The Arrow, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2018 The Earl Street Journal, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2016 The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2015 New Works, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2015 The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, Milford Galleries Queenstown
2013 Small Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2012 The Surreal, Milford Gallerie, Dunedin
2006 Object, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2005 Group Show, Milford Galleries Auckland
2003 Summer Hanging, Grantham Gallery, Auckland
2002 Artists Choice, Mt Eden Gallery, Auckland
2001 Masters Exhibition, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
2001 Provenance, Masters Exhibition, George Fraser Gallery, School of Fine Arts, University of Ak
2000 Masters Exhibition, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
2000 Kare Kare, Lopdell House, Auckland
2000 Summer Hanging, Chiaroscuro Gallery, Auckland
1999 Finalist Exhibition, Wallace Trust Art Award, Auckland
1999 Nobby Clark: Simon Clark, Joint Exhibition, Auckland Society of Arts, Auckland
1995 Staff from the School of Art and Design, Morgan Street Gallery, Auckland
1994 Staff from the School of Art and Design, Morgan Street Gallery, Auckland
1994 Simon Clark, Shirley Grace and Lindsey Kirk, Auckland Society of Arts, Gallery 1
1991 Staff from the School of Art and Design, Russian Gallery, Auckland
1989 Beecham Laboratory Art Award, Auckland Society of Arts Gallery, Auckland
1988 Beecham Laboratory Art Awards, Auckland Society of Arts Gallery, Auckland
Acknowledgements
Printing and Consultancy. Sanji Karu. Skar Image Lab. Skar Image Lab
Digital Editing. Craig Stevens
Website and Marketing. Josie Rainer
Marketing Consultancy. Lily Clark
Photography, Art. Milford Gallery Photography - Glenn Frei
Photography, Art. Cornelius Geraets.
Photography, Art. Dr King Tong Ho.
Photography. Portrait of Simon Clark. Paul Green Photography