Crumbling shingle roofs, peeling plywood, and fragmented framing characterize a lot of Seth Clark’s latest work, through which spheres or mounds of dilapidated homes function research of texture, materials, time, and neglect. In new work on view this week in his solo exhibition Passing By at Paradigm Gallery + Studios, he’s made one conscious addition: limbs.
The Pittsburgh-based artist’s collaged paper work, pastel and ink switch drawings, and sculptures replicate his curiosity within the chaotic aesthetic of collapsing homes. Extra lately, his jumbled compositions have sprouted legs, strolling or working and including a way of each urgency and playfulness to the architectural types.
Drawing on every day observations and images, particularly of Pittsburgh’s suburban row homes, Clark assembles references for window frames, siding, gables, roof traces, and extra to emphasise numerous states of decay. Discovered supplies and papers present the work’ layered textures, which he then ages with ink washes, charcoal, graphite, pastel, and acrylic. His new works are dollhouse-like and a smidge brighter than previously, with the addition of cheerful pinks, yellows, and purples to enhance darker browns and grays.
Clark’s anthropomorphized constructions counsel the character of inhabiting—one thing akin to the soul of a spot along with its bodily make-up. The artist “attributes this change to recently becoming a father and developing an urge to instill hope into crumbling houses and broken window panes,” the gallery says. “What was first a sobering reminder of mortality has now become a message of how, even in states of chaos and decay, there can still be enough joy found in dark places to pick up the pieces and create something new.”
Passing By runs from June 6 to June 29 in Philadelphia. See extra on the artist’s web site and Instagram.
