Ron Clark has drawn from his academic background and professional practice in architecture to examine neoteric architectural design for his series of paintings, Body of the Diagram. He interprets his observations through several compositional approaches; dramatic imagery, ambiguous relationships between form and space, sensuous shapes, and a lush, vibrant palette. He employs these devices to express the humanistic components of architectural formalism, as well as the physical and emotional sensations they trigger.

“I use line work for the more theoretical and structural ideas, while sensuality is suggested by forms derived from details of the human body and rendered in a more painterly manner,” Clark states. Graceful contours, mysterious and alluring crevices, and an expressive blend of color, texture and light elicit sensations of enticement and stimulation.

Some of the works involve the more convoluted aspects of avant-garde architecture. These are meant to be perplexing and somewhat puzzling to the viewer. Familiar form may become abruptly unfamiliar, creating the kind of spatial enigmas one might encounter in Cubo/Futurist paintings and sculpture of early Modernists like Boccioni, Gris and Weber. Alluding to society’s disorientation and disorder, planes fragment and fuse unexpectedly, suggesting both interior and exterior space simultaneously. Or a shape might dissolve and become displaced by planes or surfaces that defy the traditional sense of order and structure, with curious light sources casting illogical shadows.

“Some of my structural and compositional planning in these works is certainly influenced by early Cubism, particularly sculpture like Max Weber’s 1915 bronze, Spiral Rhythm, a torso figure of erupting and twisting facets. The works of Picasso, Bracque and the Russian Constructivists were among my first and most enduring fascinations in art history, and I see a lot of similar form and motion in architectural design today.”

In Clark’s auspicious 1997 series, Pitturas Metaphysica, the striking palette became a distinguishing attribute of his work. Likewise in Body of the Diagram, a rich chroma, combined with a more mature painting technique, strongly reinforces the intent of this work.

“The underpainting of metallic oil mixtures reflects the techno/futurist materials of contemporary architectural construction, such as epoxy colored-glass terrazzo, interference-colored stainless steel, cast-glass tiles, etc.,” Clark explains.This unique and unusual painting technique creates an overall effect in which color and texture become virtually indistinguishable; forms and shapes seem to inhabit a visual space that appears almost separate from that of the canvas.

A final aspect of this composite painting method involves light itself. Metallic oil has an intrinsic dimensionality, and when illuminated, light refracts among the microscopic metal bits, creating a subtle luminescence that almost imperceptibly changes hue and depth when viewed from different positions in a room.

The calculated visual atmosphere created by this work is decidedly alien yet oddly familiar; in the vernacular of contemporary architectural practice, tradition is subverted but not compromised. These paintings, like the architecture they are based on, manipulate classical form to reveal a latent beauty and intrinsic, almost tangible mystery and exhilaration.

To patrons familiar with the expanding body of work by Ron Clark, Body of the Diagram is a compelling and edifying study of the progression and evolution of an artist. To those unfamiliar with his work, it is simply a dramatic and definitive introduction.

Ron Clark’s Body of the Diagram reflects a cultivated sensibility to the subject matter and should lend considerable momentum to the career of an artist with an established collectibility now beginning to emerge into the domain of art criticism through an extensive U.S. exhibition presence.