Brian Clarke

This article is about the British architectural artist and painter. For other uses, see Brian Clarke (disambiguation).

Sir
Brian Clarke
Hon FRIBA FRSA CF
Brian Clarke in his studio, 2015
Born
Brian Ord Clarke

(1953-07-02) 2 July 1953 (age 71)
Oldham, Lancashire, England
EducationOldham School of Arts and Crafts; Burnley School of Art; North Devon College of Art and Design, Bideford
OccupationArtist
Years active1975–present
Known forPainting, stage design, stained glass, Gesamtkunstwerk,[1] tapestry, mosaic, ceramics
Notable workArchitectural Stained Glass; Royal Mosque, KKIA; Victoria Quarter, Leeds;[2] Holocaust Memorial Synagogue, Darmstadt;[3] Paul McCartney New World Tour; Pyramid of Peace and Reconciliation[4]
Spouses
Liz Finch
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1996)​
​
​
(m. 2013)​
Websitewww.brianclarke.co.uk

Sir Brian Clarke Hon FRIBA CF (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist, designer and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and mosaic projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in Modern and contemporary architecture.

Born to a working-class family in Oldham, in the north of England, and a full-time art student on scholarship by age 13, Clarke came to prominence in the late 1970s as a painter and figure of the Punk movement[5][6][7] and designer of stained glass. By the early 1980s he had become a major figure in international contemporary art,[8] the subject of several television documentaries and a café society regular. He is known for his architectonic art, prolific output in various media,[9] friendships with key cultural figures,[10][11][a] and polemical lectures and interviews.

His practice in architectural and autonomous stained glass, often on a monumental scale,[12] has led to successive innovation and invention in the development of the medium.[b] This includes the creation of stained glass without lead and the subsequent pioneering of a 'dramatically enhanced Pointillism'[15] in glass, as well as the creation of sculptural stained glass works, analogous to collage, made primarily or entirely of lead. The latter two advances are described as having taken stained glass as an art form to its zero-point in each direction: absolute transparency and complete opacity.[c]

A lifelong exponent of the integration of art and architecture, his architectural collaborations include work with Zaha Hadid,[17] Norman Foster,[18] Arata Isozaki, Oscar Niemeyer, I. M. Pei, César Pelli, and Renzo Piano.[19] He served a seven-year term as chairman of The Architecture Foundation[20] and served on the Design Review Committee of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.[21] His artistic collaborations have included work with David Bailey, Hugh Hudson, Malcolm McLaren, and with Linda McCartney and Paul McCartney.

  1. ^ Greenhalgh, Paul (2020). Ceramic, Art and Civilisation. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts; Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN 9781474239707.
  2. ^ Wrathmall, Susan (2005). Pevsner Architectural Guides: Leeds. Yale University Press. pp. 24–5, 38, 159–61, 225. ISBN 0-300-10736-6.
  3. ^ Schwartz, Hans-Peter (1988). Die Architektur Der Synagoge. Frankfurt am Main: Deutsches Architekturmuseum. p. 306.
  4. ^ Sudjic, Deyan (2010). Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture. Hachette UK. ISBN 9780297864424.
  5. ^ Rick Poynor (April 1990). "Master of the Matrix". Blueprint. United Kingdom.
  6. ^ Dadomo, Giovanni (July 1981). "The Artist Today". The Face. No. 15.
  7. ^ Harvey, Paul (1 March 2013). "Doing the right things for the right reasons: Looking for authenticity in Punk and Stuckist practice". Punk & Post Punk. 2 (1): 43–71. doi:10.1386/punk.2.1.43_1.
  8. ^ Crichton-Miller, Emma (4 February 2011). "The Great Glass Elevator". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  9. ^ Amaya, Mario (June 1984). "Clarke's New Constructivism". Studio International. 197 (1005).
  10. ^ a b Dickson, Jane (15–21 October 2011). "Magic of glass: Meet Brian Clarke, Britain's star of stained glass with a papal blessing". Radio Times. United Kingdom: Immediate Media Company Limited.
  11. ^ Johnson, David (4 October 2009). "Spandau Ballet, the Blitz kids and the birth of the New Romantics". The Observer. The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  12. ^ Trümpler, Stefan (1997). Brian Clarke – Linda McCartney: Collaborations. Romont: Musée Suisse du Vitrail. ISBN 3-7165-1086-6.
  13. ^ Lister, David (23 February 1998). "Glass act: Linda turns Paul into an art revival". The Independent. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  14. ^ Jenkins, David (8 September 2010). "Brian Clarke: rock star of stained glass". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  15. ^ Greenhalgh, Paul (June 2018). The Art of Light – Brian Clarke. London: HENI Publishing/The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. ISBN 9781912122172.
  16. ^ Harrison, Martin (November 2018). Alchemy, Stained Glass and Modernism. London: HENI Publishing. ISBN 978-1912122158.
  17. ^ Moonan, Wendy (26 January 1995). "The World Under Glass". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  18. ^ Holledge, Richard (10 August 2018). "The luminous stained glass of Brian Clarke". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  19. ^ Louie, Elaine (16 January 2013). "Stained Glass, from Churches to Malls: Q&A with Brian Clarke". The New York Times.
  20. ^ "Clarke takes over from Alsop". Design Week. Vol. 4, no. February 2007 Online. 19 February 2007. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  21. ^ "Brian Clarke appointed new Chairman of the Architecture Foundation" (Press release). London: The Architecture Foundation. BLAH PR. February 2007.


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