John Clark aims to form “a visible tribute to spontaneous creativity” in his new show, Improvsensations. The work includes watercolors, acrylic on canvas, and pencil on blueprints utilized to form bizarre and playful images of human-like subjects. A common theme in Clark’s work is transformation, “I've always been a fan and practitioner of surrealism,” he says, “transformation is the key to what I do. Take something that’s boring, and the slightest thing you can add to an image can change it completely. That’s what I consider fun.”

Discordant features are added to each human-like illustration, from brightly hued hair and skin to mismatched features placed in odd proportions. The work has a whimsical and surreal feel, though it is grounded by the dark lines, tapered edges, smudged hues, and earthen tones so prevalent in each piece.

John Clark
*Clash Rocker*
Acrylic on canvas
20" x 20”

The subject of Clash Rocker has a slick shock of ruby-hued hair with white horns emerging from either side of its head. Like a rockstar, gaudy skin in a shade of burnt orange is set off by a smear of gray makeup over the eyes and a circle drawn in the center of the subject’s chest. Full lips and a beauty mark adorn the subject's face, and in the patchy azule background, a snakelike figure peaks over the subject's shoulder.

The subject's blank countenance is superimposed over a yellowing blueprint on crumpled paper with curling edges. The faded text and illustrations scrawled in the background of the image hide behind the smudged pencil of the subject's neck and face. Stark, geometric segments arc into the shape of a human face adorned with a smooth sweep of hair and trail of curls falling behind the shoulder. The dark and stern lips, fastidious and shapely nose, and blank, eyeless face haunt the viewer of Presearcher.

John Clark
*Pleamaker*
Watercolor
12” x 15”

Pleamaker appears to be a marine ecosystem packed with fish sporting human expressions. A thin wash of blue frames the fish in dull shades of red and gray. The largest fish floats in the center of the image, with a large orange crest projecting from its back, an expressionless eye, a full and bulbous nose, a round paunch under its chin, and stunted antennae jutting from its head. More disordinate fish encircle the largest ones with a variety of lumps, antennae, splotches and growths.

See Improvsensations in the Hank and Dolly Gallery through the month of February.