The body of work in Black Bird, new works by David Clark, consists of small-scale, mixed-media images on paper that explore the abstraction of recognizable floral forms using digital wet plate process together with various traditional methods of working with and hand-manipulating 2-D form, including drawing and painting. For a more detailed explanation of digital wet plate process, please visit the blog section of Clark’s website fullfathomfive.squarespace.com

With few exceptions, Clark’s work leans heavily on aesthetic concerns and fits snugly within the western art historical context of art for art’s sake, including (even) my use of digital process. In other words, his images are mostly underpinned with notions about art that Oscar Wilde promoted through his character Vivian in The Decay of Lying (1891):

“. . . Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art.”