CLARK WALDING: EVANESCENCE May 13 - June 13, 2022
Clark Walding
Clark Walding’s paintings glow. The aching, haunting, mystic blues that he achieves seem to pierce a clean path through the retinal nerve, project like a luminous, Buddhist “Blue Sky Mind” onto the back wall of the skull and then melt down the brain stem to finally collect and pool somewhere behind the sternum. Look, for instance, at the 50 x 40 alkyd, oil, and wax piece, breathe: its deep mineral aquamarine lit by yellow, coursing with undercurrents of green, dappled with bits of icy cyan, and marked by a mysterious dark blue-black form which bleeds a bit of red. Can you feel it? That ice-edged ache, so alive within the painting, slowly takes up residence in the body as you look. As you sink into these paintings – they, in turn, sink into you. It doesn’t take long for the viewer to see that the works included in Evanescence are palimpsests, a chronicle written in color and texture that adds more than just depth, but history. This matches with Walding’s process – not only does he work using a painstaking process of applying paint, removing it, reapplying, removing, on and on, layer by layer – but these paintings are often created over the course of multiple years. What is not there, what has vanished or been erased, somehow becomes in the final viewing, almost as important as what remains. Walding’s act of using the edge of a painting knife to draw into multiple layers of paint, making lines and shapes that reveal contrasts and striking juxtapositions of color, confirms for us something we instinctively know – that there is “more going on here” than can be gleaned from a quick glance. Perhaps it is partly that persistence of absence in these pieces that contributes to the sense of mystery and loss that seems to haunt them. Evanescence is more than just the name of
the series – it quite aptly hints at the deeper resonance these pieces emit. While in modern advertising language evanescence may be used to talk about bubbly drinks (from its tangential connection to vapor) – at its core, the noun is about the process of gradually disappearing: to vanish, to disappear, to be forgotten. Add to this the understanding that Walding was quite directly inspired in these works by images of melting Antarctic ice and the picture begins to clear. This isn’t to say that these are paintings of ice. They’re not. A piece like evanescent or breach with their pale blues frosted by white, edged by pale algae-bloom green, or lined sharply by reds or oranges is not depiction but gesture – they feel more like memory and strike deeper. They owe at least as much to the delicate and mysterious paintings of 13th century Chan Buddhist monk, Muqi Fachang as they do to drone images of glaciers. Ultimately, what strikes the viewer so acutely, is that the works of Evanescence are beautiful. This isn’t the beauty of advertisements or easy expectations but of vastness, of awe in its oldest sense (a reverence mixed with fear). It is the feeling that comes with acknowledging the transience of life, of things, of the planet itself. This kind of beauty reminds us that life is fragile and staggeringly complex. These paintings are beautiful because of the way that that blue pool of reflected light polling under the breastbone tickles and troubles us. The paintings of Evanescence have a gravity that supports, allowing us to look, see, and to remember. - Michaela Kahn, PhD
triage, 2019, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 43 x 40 inches
teardrop, 2019, oil, alkyd and wax on canvas, 40 x 35 inches
breach, 2019, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 31 x 26 inches
to a fault, 2022, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 52 x 38 inches
exit, 2020-2022, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 43.25 x 40 inches
dark water, 2021, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 40 x 35 inches
breathe, 2019-2021, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 50 x 45 inches
breakaway, 2021, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 35.5 x 33.5 inches
house of cards, 2020-2021, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 43 x 40 inches
evanescent, 2017-2019, oil, alkyd and wax on canvas, 34 x 30.75 inches
monitor, 2020-2021, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 35 x 30 inches
poles apart, 2019, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 46 x 43 inches
front, 2020-2021, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 33 x 30 inches
blind arc, 2020, oil, alkyd, wax on canvas, 32 x 28.5 inches
triage, 2019 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 43 x 40 inches CW94 Click to inquire about this work
$12,000
exit, 2020-2022 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 43.25 x 40 inches CW102 Click to inquire about this work
$12,000
teardrop, 2019 oil, alkyd and wax on canvas 40 x 35 inches CW93 Click to inquire about this work
$10,000
dark water, 2021 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 40 x 35 inches CW97 Click to inquire about this work
$10,000
breach, 2019 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 31 x 26 inches CW87 Click to inquire about this work
$6,500
breathe, 2019-2021 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 50 x 45 inches CW104 Click to inquire about this work
$15,000
to a fault, 2022 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 52 x 38 inches CW98 Click to inquire about this work
$14,000
breakaway, 2021 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 35.5 x 33.5 in. CW103 Click to inquire about this work
$9,000
house of cards, 2020-2021 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 43 x 40 inches CW101 Click to inquire about this work
$12,000
front, 2020-2021 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 33 x 30 inches CW100 Click to inquire about this work
$8,000
evanescent, 2017-2019 oil, alkyd and wax on canvas 34 x 30.75 inches CW88 Click to inquire about this work
$9,000
blind arc, 2020 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 32 x 28.5 inches CW86 Click to inquire about this work
$7,000
monitor, 2020-2021 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 35 x 30 inches CW99 Click to inquire about this work
$8,500
poles apart, 2019 oil, alkyd, wax on canvas 46 x 43 inches CW89 Click to inquire about this work
$14,000
Born: 1945 in Turlock, CA Lives & works in Cerrillos, NM Education: MFA, Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA BFA, Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA Awards: 1985 Orange County Register, New Newsmakers for 1986-Art 1984 International Art Competition, Certificate of Excellence: Painting (Exhibits: Southern California Museums and Galleries) 1974-75 Scholarship Grant from Otis Art Institute for Independent Study-Europe Selected Solo Exhibitions: 2022 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Evanescence, Santa Fe, NM 2013 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Flux, Santa Fe, NM 2009 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Rift Series, Santa Fe, NM 1999 Jan Maiden Fine Art, Columbus, OH 1997 Jan Maiden Fine Art, Columbus, OH 1996 Jan Maiden Fine Art, Columbus, OH 1995 Jan Maiden Fine Art, Columbus, OH 1989 The Works Gallery, Crossing the Void, part 2, Long Beach, CA Saddleback College, Crossing the Void, part 1, Mission Viejo, CA 1987 The Works Gallery, A Show of Hands, Long Beach, CA 1986 The Works Gallery, Heartland Series, Long Beach, CA 1985 Orange Coast College, Heartland Series, Costa Mesa, CA Art Space, Heartland Series, Los Angeles, CA 1977 Paideia Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Selected Group Exhibitions: 2019 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Celebrating 30 Years, Pt. 2: Monochrome, Santa Fe, NM Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Mostly Blue, Santa Fe, NM 2016 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Wish You Were Here: A Group Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM 2015 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, All That Glitters: A Holiday Group Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM 2014 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Winter Group Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, BLUE: A Group Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM 2012 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Summer Group Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM 2011 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Red Black and White, Santa Fe, NM 2008 ART Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM 2007 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Group Exhibit, Santa Fe, NM 2006 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Interlude, Santa Fe, NM 2005 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Variations on Yellow, Santa Fe, NM Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Back to Basics, Santa Fe, NM Art Chicago, Chicago, IL 2004 Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, By Invitation, Santa Fe, NM Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, The Grass is (not) Greener, Santa Fe, NM
2003
Peyton-Wright Gallery, ART Santa Fe 2003, Santa Fe, NM Peyton-Wright Gallery, Contemporary Exhibit, Santa Fe, NM 2002 Peyton-Wright Gallery, Contemporary Group Exhibition, Santa Fe, NM Peyton-Wright Gallery, ART Santa Fe 2001, Santa Fe, NM Jan Maiden Fine Art, Drawing, Columbus, OH Peyton-Wright Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2000 Gensler, The New Minimalism, Santa Monica CA Peyton-Wright Gallery, Contemporary Group Exhibit, Santa Fe, NM Peyton Wright, Santa Fe, NM, w/ Jim Amaral 1999 Peyton-Wright Gallery, Contemporary Exhibit, Santa Fe, NM 1998 Peyton-Wright Gallery, Inaugural Exhibition (new space), Santa Fe, NM 1995 Peyton-Wright Gallery, Group Exhibit, Santa Fe, NM 1992 The Works Gallery South, Inscapes, Costa Mesa, CA 1991 Art Space, An Opening and a Closing, Los Angeles, CA The Works Gallery, Spiritual Objects, Long Beach, CA Lone Pine Gallery, Monotypes, Irvine, CA 1990 Friesen Gallery, Inaugural Exhibition, Seattle, WA James Corcoran Gallery, Heal the Bay Invitational, Santa Monica, CA Korean Cultural Center, East/West Invitational, Los Angeles, CA The Works Gallery, South, Costa Mesa, CA, w/ Hoon Kwak The Works Gallery, Long Beach, CA, w/ Judith Davies 1989 Shidoni Contemporary, Winter Group Show, Tesuque, NM 1987 Rancho Santiago College, Beauty in the Beast, Santa Ana, CA The Works Gallery, Artists/Works Two, Long Beach, CA Long Beach Art Museum, Curators Choice, Long Beach, CA The Works Gallery, Recent Work: Dixon, Morphesis, Walding, Long Beach, CA 1986 The Works Gallery, Artists/Works, Long Beach, CA Design House ‘86, Palos Verdes Estates, CA 1985 Long Beach Museum Foundation, Contemporary Collection: Drawing(exhibited at Pacific Design Center, LosAngeles, CA and The Works Gallery, Long Beach, CA) The Works Gallery, New Talent: Showcase One, Long Beach, CA Art Space, Works on Paper, Los Angeles, CA 1984 Art Space, Holiday Group Show, Los Angeles, CA 1979 Paideia Gallery, Group Show, Los Angeles, CA 1978 Paideia Gallery, Contemporary Paintings and Graphics, Los Angeles, CA Paideia Gallery, 20th Century Paintings, Drawings and Prints, Los Angeles, CA 1977 Paideia Gallery, Contemporary Drawings and Paintings, Los Angeles, CA 1976 National Watercolor Society, National Competition, Los Angeles, CA Meadows Museum, Shreveport, LA Selected Collections: Safeco/Glendale, CA Emerald Chaffey Pan Pacific Hotel, CA Seaco Inc, HI Gibraltar Savings, Los Angeles, CA Women’s Medical Group, TN Laguna Beach Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
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