The “Art of Light” by Brian Clarke is now on display at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) upon its reopening. This exhibit will be available until February 21st, 2021.
Photo Credit: Karina Kovac
Brian Clarke, born July 2nd, 1953, is a celebrated architectural artist and painter from the United Kingdom and this is the first time the United States can see his marvelous stained glass screens, lead compositions and accompanying sketches in person.
Clarke gained his popularity in the late 70s as a painter and designer of euphoric stained glass and by the early 80s had become a major figure in the international contemporary art world. He is noted for his creation of stained glass without lead and pioneering a “dramatically enhanced Pointillism,” says Paul Greenhalgh, writer and director of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia.
Works in ceramic, mosaic, metal and sculpture can also be attributed to Clarke who likes to mix and match these mediums. Recently, he has started overtaking entire architectures from the late Modern age and turning them into ginormous works of art. He does this in part to keep the European art, beginning in the Middle Ages alive and relevant with an innovative twist.
Clarke’s exhibit takes up the fourth and fifth floor at MAD and each feels like a realm of their own. The fourth floor is light and airy and feels like you’ve been transported to a place of exuberance. Marvelous bright light spills onto the floor from the stained glass and the white walls make you feel elated. Stained glass with Keats poetry, jellyfish and flowers abound in an ethereal combination.
Photo Credit: Karina Kovac
The fifth floor has black walls and you’re greeted out of the elevator confronting multiple skulls eternally trapped in the stained glass. Skulls, skeletons, religious imagery, orchids, and a personal corner filled with Clarke’s belongings are on this floor. The viewer is confronted with morality and scope of human emotions within this space.
“There is a world that can only be seen through stained glass. It is like no other. The range of experience I can deliver through it is greater than anything I’ve known in my life… this exhibition demonstrates that stained glass has an authority and potential to deal with every human condition,” says Clarke of his work and this exhibit.
One visitor said they felt “inspired,” and had ideas they are thinking after viewing Clarke’s exhibits. Everyone at the exhibit must wear masks throughout and social distance, but that’s not difficult in the big MAD galleries.
