Perfect Storm” of Three Unrelated Things Coming Together All at Once
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Perfect You will not fnd anyone nicer than Bob Clark. In the racetrack world, he is ‘Mr. Clark’, probably the top racehorse painter in the West- Storm ern Hemisphere. In the art community, he is ‘Bobo’, authority on all things life-of-working- artist. He is, hands-down, the expert on the business side of being an artist. He is also an encyclopedic compendium of Thorough- bred racing, as well as being a go-to man on any subject concerning art history, theory, and technique. the paintings His work is meticulous; he strives for exact representation. He is old-school--a photo- realist who never traces or uses a projector. His portraits hang everywhere there are race- of Robert Clark horses: the US, Great Britian, Dubai, Saudi Arabia. During racing season, he paints in the paddock area of all the large racetracks, or at tuxedo meet-and-greets for equine charities. He is, somehow, the completely approachable interview by Lyne Raff ‘Bobo’ and the uber-respected ‘Mr. Clark’ all at the same time. Artist, sportsman, and perfectionist, he often fnds himself in the role of artist’s advocate--as well as advocate for Art itself. He does with ease what not many could do; he can take the pressure of having racing fans, equine experts, and millionaire horse owners watch over his shoulder as he paints. And he breathes Thoroughbred. Can’t get much better than that. was born in Paris, Tennessee. My dad was in the Navy. Both my parents were I from Paris, and I’m not real sure if my Dad just happened to be on leave when I was born or how it happened to work out that way, but the rest of my brothers and sisters are born all over the country, from Maryland to Califor- nia. I lived in San Diego until my dad retired from the military around 1970, when we moved to a 200 acre farm outside of Henry, TN. The sign said Pop. 178, and Henry was 7 miles from our house. So, I kind of went from the city to the sticks (or twigs in my case). From living in a mobile home with hundreds of them jammed together in park, to a farm where we couldn’t see another house in any direction. The big selling point about leaving CA was that we could have horses on the farm. Even as www.robertclark.us www.robertclark.us a city kid, I already had three favorite things: sports, art, and horses. Going to the country was a huge change, and really was a tough ad- © Robert Clark Right: Ghostzapper; collection of Frank Stronach. Copyright Robert Clark. Art Horse Magazine . Issue 11 . p 12 ©Art Horse Magazine 2010 www.arthorsemagazine.com Art Horse Magazine . Issue 11 . p 13 ©Art Horse Magazine 2010 www.arthorsemagazine.com www.robertclark.us www.robertclark.us © Robert Clark Know your talents and see the blessing in them. justment from having more friends than I ly, the drawings I did of horses were not the arship in college, but a kidney operation knew what to do with to spending the whole angles I most often saw of them: from un- the week after graduation wiped that dream day throwing the baseball against the brick derneath, behind as they ran away, or from out. Lucky for me the grades and SAT test chimney and drawing horses. prone on the gravel road. scores seemed to fall on me from heaven, My parents were great, but they were a Somehow I lived to make it to high and I was awarded the Wilkens Scholarship little slow about coming up with that horse school where I played baseball, football, by the University of the South at Sewanee, they promised. After being on the farm for and wrestled. During the summers there TN. It was the only school I had visited, a year or so, I took matters into my own was plenty of hay to be hauled and even but without a scholarship it wasn’t going to hands and when another boy at school said some tobacco to cut, but I fgured I could happen. It happened. something about having to get rid of their make more money in less time actually Sewanee was known for its Academics, horse, I walked two miles to his house. He selling the landscapes I painted of the old but as a Division III school it was going to handed me the lead line and I walked the fallen-down barns in the area. I had hoped be perfect to play both baseball and foot- horse home. That night my father came to play either baseball or football on schol- ball, maybe even wrestle. On orientation home and laughed, telling me that day I was wandering through the it wasn’t a horse. Not a horse? science building looking for any- Sure it was, I was looking at it. one. As luck would have it the art Nope, it was a pony, a Shetland department was doing their orien- Pony whose only purpose in life tation in the science building. Not was to terrorize small boys–which sure why, but I ended up meeting is why he came so cheap and why Dr. Ed Carlos, who was the head the other boy’s father said ‘a deal of the art department and the best is a deal!’ artist I had ever met. I had no For the next eight years we al- intention of taking an art class at ways had a “horse” on the farm. Sewanee. But I explained that I We were able to trade the pony had painted for several years, so for another horse that was less de- if I did take Art, I had no interest termined to kill me. Then another in taking Art Appreciation or the horse less determined to run away other prerequisites. After review- with me. Then another horse that ing my portfolio, he waved all the might let us catch him. Fortunate- beginning classes, and I started my © Robert Clark www.robertclark.us Art Horse Magazine . Issue 11 . p 14 ©Art Horse Magazine 2010 www.arthorsemagazine.com www.robertclark.us www.robertclark.us © Robert Clark incoming freshman semester in a painting wild skyscapes and use of color would best reason to pick a school. The two years class with juniors and seniors. By the end precede the Impressionists by ffty years. at FAU were quite an adjustment from my of my freshman year I was granted a one Carlos and I would paint watercolors from previous old-school approach to drawing man show by a gallery in the Chattanooga the edge of cliffs just off the mountain top and painting that emphasized draftsman- area. It was the frst time a student had campus. After graduation I continued to ship. FAU was seeded in contemporary art earned such an honor. paint these live watercolors. I’ve painted with the emphasis on Abstract Expression- I took drawing every semester and most over 10,000 landscapes. ism, and it only took one day to learn that of the time it was with live models. We I gave up my scholarship after two years if I was going to survive with that faculty, I learned to draw whatever we saw. There and moved to Florida to follow the lady had to paint like them. In retrospect it was were a lot of exercises to train the eye and who would become the frst former Mrs. perfect for what I needed to complete my to coordinate it with our hands. We did so Clark. I ended up getting my Fine Arts de- skill set. I learned how to put the paint on many strange drawing exercises, but by the gree from Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton. with a wide array of techniques. I’d never time I left Sewanee I could pretty well du- The school was convenient, which isn’t the worked in layers or even heard the word plicate anything I saw. Drawing scumbling before FAU. At FAU, from memory became something I if you didn’t scumble, life wasn’t stayed away from. My live eye was worth living. always better than my memory, and What I did learn was more about my hand trusted my eye complete- paint than I ever imaged. I became ly. The one thing I learned was art wasn’t about subject matter, but “subject doesn’t matter”. Opposite, top: Street Sense; collec- During this time my concentra- tion of Carl & Wanda Nafzger. Bot- tion was on landscapes with my tom: Balance; collection John & Jerry Amerman. Above: Barbaro; collec- greatest infuence, after Dr. Carlos, tion of Roy & Gretchen Jackson. Left: being an artist he introduced me to- Showing Up; collection of Barclay -William Turner. He was a British Tagg. All work copyright the artist. artist of the 19th Century, whose © Robert Clark www.robertclark.us Art Horse Magazine . Issue 11 . p 15 ©Art Horse Magazine 2010 www.arthorsemagazine.com aware of transparency, opacity, and texture, and how these could be combined with...what else? Scumbling! There was one common ele- ment between the lessons of Sewanee and FAU: “Subject doesn’t mat- ter”. It was during the period at FAU that I saw for the frst time the pastels of my future mother-in-law, a graduate of the American Academy of Art in Chicago. I had never seen better pastels in my life, and almost every one of them was of a horse. For a kid who had grown up painting horses, but didn’t dare do it in college for fear of bad things happening, it was great to see pieces featuring horses and artwork that was well executed--with a masterful touch by every standard I had been taught in terms of craftsmanship and the handling of the medium.