ALASTAIR CLARK

Address:
29 Regent Place, Edinburgh. EH7 5BG

Born:
1968, Glasgow, Scotland

Education:
1986-90 BA (Hons), Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art.
1990-91 Post-Graduate in Painting and Printmaking, Edinburgh College of Art.
1995 Tamarind Institute of Lithography, Summer Workshop

Awards:
1991 Andrew Grant Post Graduate Travel Scholarship.
1994 Openshaw Printmaking Residency, Lowick House, Cumbria.
1994 Prizewinner, Out of the Blue Open Exhibition.
1995 Scottish Arts Council Travel Award
1997 Nominated as Professional member of the Society of Scottish Artists.
Prizewinner 'The Joseph Bonnar' award , Society of Scottish Artists.

Employment:
1992 Studio technician, Edinburgh Printmakers.
1992-Present. Lithography technician , Edinburgh Printmakers
1995-Present. Part-time lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art.

Also:
1998 Birth of daughter, Joanna
1999 Elected Council member of the Society of Scottish Artists
2000 Birth of daughter, Ellie

Internet:
www.edinburgh-printmakers.co.uk/artists
www.s-s-a.org.uk
www.thenetgallery.co.uk

Exhibitions:
2000 Rowe and Maw, Art at fleet place- Prints from the Scottish Studios
Glasgow Art Fair, represented by Edinburgh Printmakers
Contemporary Art Open- SSA
Edinburgh Printmakers at Princes Street
Printmaking Present, Gracefield Arts centre, Dumfries
Digitally Mastered, Glasgow Print Studio Gallery
Visual Arts Scotland, Annual Exhibition.

1999 Printmakers Council Open Biennale, Atrium gallery, Whiteleys London
The Contemporary Print Fair, Atlantis Gallery, London- represented by Edinburgh Printmakers.
Society of Scottish Artists- Annual exhibition.
Visual Arts Society, RSA, Edinburgh
'Inhouse', Staff exhibition, Edinburgh Printmakers
'Contemporary Lithographs', in association with the Printmakers Council of Great Britain, Edinburgh Printmakers.

1998 3rd Symposium of Lithography, Tidaholm, Sweden.
'Original Print Exhibition', Barbican Art Center, London- represented by Edinburgh Printmakers.
Society of Scottish Artists-Annual exhibition.
Edinburgh Printmakers Christmas show

1997 The 'MAG' Collection, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, also touring to Fruitmarket.
'Stone prints'- Two person show with Elizabeth Hobbs, Traverse Theatre exhibition space, Edinburgh Festival.
'Triple XXX'- 30 years of Printmaking Edinburgh Printmakers
'Society of Scottish Artists' Annual Exhibition, RSA- Prizewinner.
'Trainspotting'- Edinburgh Printmakers go to Glasgow Print Studio
Royal Scottish Academy- Annual Exhibition.

1996 Royal society of Watercolour Artists, Annual Exhibition, RSA
Print Exhibition Exchange- Galerija Graficki Kolektiv, Belgrade
'Art in the square'- EPW at the Glasgow Art Fair.
Royal Scottish Academy- Annual Exhibition
'Islands'- Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop
200 years of Lithography- Senefelder open, Edinburgh Printmakers.

1995 'Artist for a week'- Collective Gallery
SSA selection- The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
'Society of Scottish Artists' Annual Exhibition, RSA.

1994 3rd Belgrade Print Biennial
Attended Symposium of Lithography, Tidaholm,Sweden
Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh, RSA
Royal Society of Watercolour Artists, Annual Exhibition

1993 'Common Origins'- Edinburgh International Science Festival, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh 'Capital Marks'- Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop, Edinburgh

Collections include:
City of Edinburgh Collection-City Art Centre
MAG collection of contemporary British Art
Cvijeta Zuzoric Art Pavilion, Belgrade
Paintings in Hospitals, Scotland
H.M the Queen
The Royal Bank of Scotland
Scottish Widows
Standard Life
University of Edinburgh
Eastern General Hospital, Edinburgh
Private Collections

Subject matter
Imagery and subject matter are of great importance to me, rooting the motivation and inspiration for each piece firmly within my own experience and linking this within the wider context of the outside world. Consistently, my initial inspiration may be a reaction to an event or to a topical subject which strikes a chord with my own interests. As a catalyst this topicality often prompts an idea to start suggesting images and forms to me from where the process of visual exploration and 'making images' takes over.

Most recently the ongoing debate around genetic modification informed the series of prints natural and modified. Starting purely with my visual fascination of natural surfaces and the transformation of familiar subjects, through the time of their creation they also began to be changed by the ideas central to the debate over genetic modification.
Namely:- Can we trust what we see on the surface?-
Do we have sufficient knowledge and insight to alter the natural order - and should we?

Opposing images are often brought together in the same composition as a way of drawing comparisons and suggesting links between diverse subjects. This opposition or contrast often is the subject of the piece, raising questions and suggesting relationships which are not fully explained.

Transformation
Often images reoccur from piece to piece, each time showing a change either of scale, relationship, colour or surface. As a way of suggesting that the image is a not strictly real but a representation of an image which has been subject to interpretation or analysis- much as a weather map describes a certain aspect of meteorology and cloud formation.

Media and process
Starting with an initial idea the final results come from my direct involvement with the materials and processes I pick to use.

For the past ten years I have mostly worked within the area of printmaking- exploring image making through the mediums of stone lithography, screenprinting, monoprinting and combination printing. This has offered me the freedom to combine diverse image types and sources from directly drawn and painted marks to digital imaging, photography and collage.

Often I have produced several different versions of the same image exploring colour relationships and trying out different balances. After the initial immediacy of creating marks and images, I find the separation and detachment which the process allows, gives me the opportunity to work more objectively, perhaps as a film editor or a sound engineer does.