There is a universe in which Tony Clark is not about to have a major retrospective in Melbourne. Fifty years ago, he took breaks from studying art history at Reading University to tour the UK in a Ford Transit. While his long white hair could betray a prog-rock past, he sheepishly admits, “I actually fell into the clutches of people who did 40s, 50s, 60s jazz standards. There is a universe in which I just kept on doing that, because I was committed. But as soon as I came to Australia, it fell off the tree.”
Clark’s new show, Unsculpted, spans 40 years of his art career, a dizzying cross-pollination with artists and musicians such as Howard Arkley, Polly Borland, John Nixon, Jenny Watson and Nick Cave. A formidable knowledge of art history informs his jaunty sculpture paintings and his playful, bright landscapes. I get the same sense of duality from Clark himself: an unbegrudging sense of humour, tempered by thoughtfulness.
