HENI Editions, Fondation Beyeler and Serpentine are delighted to present 'Collages' by Brian Clarke, a new limited edition print series.
‘Collages’ (G5) comprises a series of eight prints after some of Brian Clarke’s most acclaimed recent collages. The application period for ‘Collages’ opens on 8 June and will last 14 days, closing at 17:00 BST on 22 June 2023.
There are 100 editions plus 25 artist proofs of each print. The editions are Diasec-mounted Giclée prints on aluminium composite panel and measure 50 x 35.4 cm. Each work is hand-signed by the artist and numbered on the label.
Sunset (G5-1) from Collages, Brian Clarke, 2023
"I never feel more like I am a legitimate part of nature than when I am making these collages. I feel not like I am portraying nature, but I am just joining in with it and there is no greater reward for an artist than to feel like he is part of nature."
- Brian Clarke
The eight unique works in 'Collages' are based on Clarke’s recent series of works on paper in which he turned to the incredibly intimate format of collage to capture the nature around him. Using his scissors to ‘draw from life’, Clarke’s subjects were ostentatious wildflowers in a garden and elegantly arranged blooming buds.
Flowers and botanicals are subjects that Clarke has continually returned to throughout his career and across mediums. These prints, produced with state-of-the-art technologies, perfectly replicate the chromatic intensity of the original layers of vibrant colours on black paper. By translating images into this new medium, ‘Collages’ strongly evokes the impact of the lively compositions and enveloping colour of Clarke’s work in stained glass.
Clarke’s monumental career and innovative approach to artmaking is celebrated in the exhibition A Great Light, opening at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London on 9 June 2023. Coinciding with Clarke’s 70th birthday, A Great Light tracks his unmatched contribution to the continuous development of the stained glass medium, featuring generative works since 2000 and presenting new, monumental works in stained glass and collage. All eight editions of ‘Collages’ and the original artworks will be on view in ’A Great Light’.
A selection of the ‘Collages’ prints is also on display at Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland and Serpentine North in London.
Brian Clarke
Brian Clarke is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work over the past five decades spans a wide range of genres and mediums. Widely considered the most important artist working in stained glass today, he has revolutionised the medium not only technologically but also philosophically, pushing the boundaries of what it can achieve. Equally important is his pictorial practice, explored in painting, sculpture, lead work, mosaic, drawing, collage and tapestry.
Still, Clarke's primary medium is light itself. His art is imbued with tradition, but it is also radically inventive and reconsiders mainstream notions of what his various practices can achieve. Through them, Clarke interrogates the extremes of transparency and opacity, light and dark, absence and presence, and order and chaos. His unique and radical approach has earned him numerous awards and honours, and his artworks have been shown in prestigious collections and institutions worldwide such as The Victoria and Albert Museum, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Corning Museum of Glass New York and Tate London.
To learn more about Brian Clarke and his work, visit his official website here.