Artists Research: Danny Clark

When creating my art for this personal investigation, I drew inspiration from Danny Clark. A mixed media artist from Texas. Specifically, a collection titles COSMOS. Below are some of his paintings and why I found them inspiring and how they link to my personal investigation.

To the left is the first piece I found interesting as I find this piece contains a lot of movement, whilst at the same time remaining stationary. The fluidity of the marks and contrasts of the light and dark tones from the top to the bottom of the piece give it lots of depth. I find the longer one looks at this piece, the more layers and details are discovered. I find this relates to science because as research gets stronger, and microscopes get more powerful, humans have been able to see and learn more than ever before.

The earthy colour palette gives a natural and organic feel. The tones mimic mountains but also could relate to cells and biology.

This circular piece from the same cosmos collection I find reminds me of planets and space. Which I think is what the artist was going for judging by the title of the collection. I find the circular canvas adds to the movement and fluidity of the piece, and the circular lines complement the soft lines created by the acrylic. These lines are highlighted by the white accents in the piece.





The artists comment on these pieces is as follows:

"High in the heavens and deep within a living cell, there is a universe still unseen.  These acrylic and resin paintings are a gimps into the controlled chaos we experience everywhere and every minute."

I find this shows the link between cells and biology, and that Clark had that in mind when creating this paintings. He also mentioned that the universe which links back to my interpretation.

In response, I created some samples in which I try to recreate. He uses the acrylic pour first, by mixing acrylic with water, pouring medium, acrylic and oil to create the 'cells'. Then once dry, he adds a layer of resin over the top to create a smooth glossy surface.

Here is my attempt and making a piece similar to Clarks work. I used a metal laser cut circle and used a range of rust toned acrylics to give the feel of decay and deterioration. I found I poured quite a thick layer of acrylic onto the plate, which took 2 weeks to dry in the end, and as its so thick its cracked and produced a lot of texture on the surface. I'd find it intruiging to see what this piece would look like coated in resin, however I found the resin too expensive to experiment with. I find the piece looks more raw and organic when the textures can be felt, as it adds another layer to the piece as opposed to it being on a smooth surface.

Above is the second piece I did on metal which I was happy with the outcome. I used a thinner mixture of acrylic which gave it more movement when I was pouring, and I must had added more oil. I prefer this piece as the cells are more defined, and I find theres more contrast in the colours which defines the cells in more detail. The cells in this piece remind me more of Clarks work and the lines give more movement. The finish on this piece is a lot smoother then the above piece, so it removed the need to pour resin on top as the surface is already smooth.

Moving forward I'd like to expermient more with colour and the contrast of the cells to give more defined lines. Maybe including some white or greys to highlight and complement the dark warmer tones in the colour pallete.