Wesley Clark

About the Artist

Wesley Clark currently resides in Hyattsville, MD, with his wife and two beautiful children. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Syracuse University and a Master of Fine Arts from The George Washington University. At the core of his practice, Clark primarily creates mixed media wood assemblages that read as familiar and are often hybrids of two, or more, objects/concepts. He refers to these objects as fictional artifacts, made to look as if they’ve lived a life prior to being on display prompting viewers to question their importance and create their own narratives. Clark has exhibited works at institutions such as the Katzen Arts Center, Washington DC; Fisk University, Nashville Tennessee; University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Maryland; as well as Scope and Prizm Art Fair, Miami, Florida during Art Basel. Clark’s work can be found in public and private collections such as: the Asheville Art Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Duke Ellington School for the Arts, and Kaiser Permanente. In 2016 Clark was commissioned by The American Alliance of Museums to create a temporary public artwork. That foray has led to several permanent public artworks located throughout Washington, DC and Maryland.

Artist's Statement

A large portion of my work considers aging, weathering, and/or antiquing objects driven by fictional narratives; narratives that inform my aesthetic choices. However, I’m not concerned with the viewer engaging my personal narratives. More often than not, they’re just for me and my process. I work with them as a means of setting a stage for myself mentally — and every stage has its props and boundaries. Therefore I’m constantly questioning, “Does this idea/object-fit within the boundaries of my stage and how?”. The objects (props) I choose to create are often ubiquitous, even mundane items with slight hybridity-like aspects incorporated. For the viewer, it’s the objects’ familiarity — loaded with preconceived notions and understandings — that allow entryway. The aesthetic choice of aging and weathering is about linking present-day content to historical issues, or ideas around value. Objects that are salvaged and displayed are deemed to possess a certain value or esteem. With the familiarity in place, the stage is set for viewers to explore that sense of value to be linked to with the “foreign” contemporary socio-political or socio-economic elements incorporated into the work.