Andrew Clarke

Featured in Deptford X: 2021

What was your project at the Deptford X Festival?

Suspended Animation – A collaboration with Gill Roth for Deptford X 2021
A mobile suspended from a beam over a narrow side street. We created a lightweight, flatpack sculpture comprised of two interlocking figures – a dancing woman and a falling man.

Describe your studio or workspace.

I work in the front upstairs room of our house. Facing the windows I have a table with my computer and printer, also a small chest full of discarded work and collage material. To my left is an old decrepit plan chest which also acts as a work surface and mini theatre set for projections. The wall is covered in black material and a washing line crosses in front of this with 3 mirror ball motors currently hanging from it. On my right is a bare wall and shelves of art materials and behind me a long table which is my main work area. Under this is a large lightbox which I sometimes use for cyanotyping. I often work on the floor and use a piece of battened plywood painted white to arrange and assemble new pieces.

What is inspiring you at the moment?

Bodies in motion. After playing with stop motion films and projections over the last couple of years I am excited to be working in animation for the first time. Using video footage of people I am tracing movements and blocking out figures in flat colour. I’m still at the beginning of this and learning but I’m liking the disturbingly wobbly interplay of bodies. I’ve also been following artists who are exploring the distorted human form with a heightened sense of the strangeness of the skin we’re in. For example, Dan Coombs’ dragged photocopies.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

I have a job for 3.5 days a week – 3 days one week, 4 days the next. I’ve also been attending a course with The Essential School of Painting which gives me one day of intellectual stimulation and critical feedback per week. So I have about 2 or 3 days per week when I’m actually trying to create. There is no typical day. I can sit for hours looking at options and descending into self-imposed inertia or creative dead ends. Alternatively, I can work in an energized frenzy when the idea and the means to do it become clear and it’s just a matter of getting on with it. I tend to ride these peaks and troughs rather than have a consistent work pattern, although most art workdays usually produce something. I also work with processes which can help me structure my time – making films and projections, using photoshop etc.

If Tate called you tomorrow and invited you to make work for the Turbine Hall, what would it be?

Disco / Discombobulated: A maze created from white, interlocking, flatpack figures combined with projections. Interactive at ground level and a chaotic honeycomb when viewed from above. Participants would experience disorienting films, infinity rooms and calm spaces before exiting the labyrinth. Viewers will see participants negotiating the spaces.

Plug your next show/event! Or what words of support or encouragement would you like to share with your fellow artists?

Online end of term show for the Contemporary Art Practice course at Theesop. Available to view online at https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/7629706/the-contemporary-fine-art-course-andrew-clarke-gill-roth#

Website: www.clarkesville.co.uk

Instagram: @clarkesville.art