Reed Clarke
(Portland, OR USA)
Artist Website
Artist and Model, Oil on Canvas, 48x36
Most of my paintings began with a face or an
interesting pose of a figure. It seems natural and
compelling to me to have humans as subjects, and I
appreciate the discipline such subjects impose on me.
I'm continually inspired by the work of Rembrandt,
Velazquez, Degas, Freud, Fischl and others. During
the painting process, other considerations surface
and the actual experience of painting becomes more
important than the subject. Always, I'm trying to
have the courage to paint over the early pleasing
parts of a painting and arrive at something beyond
what I thought was going to be the destination when
I began. I'd like to be able to let the process of
painting have a say in the resolution that's right for
the specific work. Usually, the finished painting has
many failures before the final state of the painting
emerges. In the end, I hope there is a balance
between the subject represented in the painting and
the painting's physical surface.