Artist Talk – Leigh Clarke

Leigh Clarke is proud of his working class, council house beginnings and his art reflects this. Growing up on a similar estate in my home town of Dunstable, I remember many occasions when further education was questioned, normally with the phrase ‘What do you want to do that for?’ Leigh has had similar experiences and conversations with his peers and has built this question into many of his pieces.

The Hackney gazette for example loves sensationalist headlines. Many of their banners liked to paint a picture that Hackney was a wild west town with robberies and knife crime everywhere. Leigh challenged this stereo type with the question,  ‘What do you want to do that for?’

Using the very posters left out by the newspaper, Leigh re worded the banners making positive news with such evocative statements as ‘Couple seen kissing in park’ or ‘Man receives hug in pub’ countering the false and negative press much to the annoyance of the paper.

On a trip to Norway Lee discovered the only attraction in the town was a Salmon fish pen called the Salmon Museum which had a glass side so you could watch the fish. Crime was unheard of in this remote Norwegian community. Discovering the Salmon Museum poster had been defaced and not replaced led to the same Leigh logic and resulted in him painting back over the defaced area (the human face in the photograph) restoring the poster to something like its original look.

Leigh Clarke’s simple approach to art was refreshing to hear. His engaging talk carrying you along and his wealth of experience evident in all he has produced. He cites Peter Kennard as one of  his heroes and I can easily see why. The styles are similar in many ways but Leigh Clarke insists he’s not a political artist. With a stand up comedian background he takes aspects of everyday life and using his keen sense of humour produces art which is almost a practical joke on the poor fool who has inspired Leigh to take action. The Hackney press, the poor Norwegians who couldn’t accept their poster had been defaced and his latest work, the thousands of  would be celebrities who no one has heard of, who feel the burning need to write autobiographies.

Taking the spines from their books he reduces them all through a simple ink and photocopy process to faded black and white images. In doing so he makes them almost anonymous in the process making all the books appear the same, a reflection of their true status.

I will be watching this artist with interest.