Daniel Clarke began creating drawings in 2001 and they continue to be an integral part of his multi-faceted practice alongside the mediums of painting, printmaking and sculpture. Often large in scale, his drawings combine iconography from his life and surroundings with warm abstractions: here are self-portraits, figures and faces; tokens of the everyday, from a ladder, spade and bicycle, to a rocking horse, baseball glove and ball; terrace doors opening onto a view of luminous flora and an evident delight in Matisse. Typically made with a mixture of charcoal, watercolor and pastel, Clarke's drawings shimmer with color; his line vibrates; fore-and backgrounds shift, sometimes interacting with an element of collage, perhaps a map or even the front page of Le Monde. Long Island is the most extensive presentation of Clarke's works on paper to date and their first publication in book form.
Fresh, direct, without apology. Difficult to not think of Beckman: the line quick and intense, the figures retain a symbolism and beauty that emerge with difficulty within a saturated atmosphere that is both poignant and full of irrational situations. A European atmosphere impregnates these new works, giving place to a new realism. - Annalisa Rimmaudo
