The Drawing Exchange, Curated by Maryanne Coutts and Luke Thurgate Raynor Hoff Gallery, National Art School, 2017
1. The Drawing Exchange cover. 2. Sally Clarke, The Void, 2017, plasticine, 350 x 350cm (Sydney). Photo: Sally Clarke. 3. Sally Clarke, The Void, 2017, plasticine, 100 x 100cm (Adelaide. Drawn by Chelsea Farquhar).
Drawing Conversations, Raynor Hoff Gallery, National Art School, 2016
1. Sally Clarke, The Snake Charmer, (foreground), 2016, plasticine, 350 x 15cm. Photo: Margaret Roberts. 2 and 3. Sally Clarke, Snake Charmer (details). Photos: Sally Clarke
Second Comings, Curated by Sarah Newall and Jane Polkinghorne,
Marrickville Garage, 2016
Sally Clarke, The Rottenness of Bruyckereberg, 2016, tree limbs, pineapples, bandages, flour dough, cling wrap, beetroot juice, variable dimensions. Photo: Sally Clarke
The Rottenness of Bruyckereberg fuses interpretations of Berlinde de Bruyckere and Mika Rottenberg’s work where the brutalised body meets the body as a site and bearer of production. Located in a suburban garden Clarke’s artwork alludes to the suburban everyday and the forces of nature mashed with human endeavour literally and metaphorically.
Notes Towards A Future Feminist Archive Curated by Bronia Iwanczak and Lynne Barwick, Affiliated Text, Sydney, 2015
Sally Clarke, They Even Swear On Occasion, 2015, eucalyptus branch. Private collection. Photo: Sally Clarke
Monochrome, Sheffer Gallery, Sydney, 2014
1. Monochrome invitation. 2. Sally Clarke, Big Cow, plasticine, 100 x 100cm. 3. Sally Clarke, Big Cow, installation view, works by Damian Moss LHS. 4: Installation view, Big Cow (centre), works by Damian Moss (LHS), works by Kurt Schranzer (RHS). Photos 2-4: David Eastwood. Exhibition statement by Sally Clarke ©2014.
Quadrant, Factory 49, Sydney, August 2014
1. Quadrant invitation. 2. Sally Clarke, In Equal Parts, 2014, plasticine, 250 x 400cm. 3. In Equal Parts (centre), Susan Andrews (left), Nicole Ellis (right). 4. Sally Clarke, In Equal Parts (detail). All photos: Fiona Susanto
The word quadrant refers to geometry, a quarter of the circumference of a circle, a piece of a mechanism and any equal part of the four sections into which a plane is divided by two coordinate axes. It suggests a mathematical system with the implications being that the system is mechanistic, repetitive and unfailing in its effectiveness: an order that cannot be broken. While acknowledging these facts the four artists exhibiting in Quadrant also realise that systems can develop a hiccup or a rupture and what was once perceived as certainty has been thrown into question, doubt has surfaced and rational expectation needs to be reassessed. Quadrant explores these issues associated with our expectation and perception of balance, repetition and harmony. The idea for Quadrant evolved from an informal conversation around diverse practices of engagement where structure, materiality and space are the basic shared components. Work exhibited in Quadrant aims to reconsider and reposition an existing system to support other shared systems of counterbalance and displacement. Exhibition statement by Susan Andrews ©2014
Intra-Sections, curated by Dr Sarah Newall, Verge Gallery, Sydney, 2013
Gallery Door Project, Marrickville Garage, Sydney, 2013
1. Sally Clarke, Impasse, 2013, vinyl, tacks, 200 x 85cm. 2 and 3. Impasse (details). All photos: Jane Polkinghorne.
Height by Width, Sheffer Gallery, Sydney, 2012
1 and 2. Height x Width invitation. 3. Sally Clarke, Discourses Ad Infinitum, 2012, graphite, acrylic paint, book pages, 142.5 x 201.5cm. Photos: Luminere Imaging. 4 and 5. Discourses Ad Infinitum (details). Photos: Luminere Imaging. Exhibition statement by David Eastwood ©2012
Discourses Ad Infinitum (2012) consists of 116 pages removed from Joshua Reynolds’ art directive, Discourses on Art. The pages have been painted pink on both sides with the facing side covered in graphite. The work is mounted onto the wall in a grid format, each page secured at just one point allowing it to react to the atmospheric conditions of the space. Over time the pages curl to expose a hint of pink from the underside. The pink underside also reflects onto the wall providing each page with a pink, queer aura while light reflects off the cool graphite-facing surface further preventing access to the text.
Discourses Ad Infinitum reflects upon the idea that meaning functions within and beyond the limits of a work’s physicality to occupy dialogical and temporal space. While knowledge is continually revised and negotiated, the scaffolding, the structures of authority through which it is constructed, evolve more slowly giving weight to the old adage that history repeats itself. Yet always, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon: a new way of being, a new paradigm or process to be imagined. Perhaps this new form is coloured pink? As Yves Klein stated, ‘… colour is infinity … colour is free.’ Pink is disobedient. Sally Clarke, artist statement.
Modern Ritual, curated by Catherine Benz, Delmar Gallery, Sydney, 2011
1. Sally Clarke The Remains of Any Day, 2011, floor vinyl, 400 x 600 x 150cm. 2 and 3. The Remains of Any Day (detail). All photos: Michel Brouet. Modern Ritual, curated by Catherine Benz included works by Sally Clarke, Lynne Eastaway, Wendy Loeffler and Floria Tosca.
IN[TWO]ART, curated by Joseph Eisenberg OAM, Maitland Regional Art Gallery, 2010
1. IN(TWO)ART invitation. 2. Sally Clarke, Floors and Wars, 2004, vinyl, 200 x 200cm. 3. Floors and Wars (detail). Photos 2 and 3: Michel Brouet. Floors and Wars straddles a space between the wall and the floor as Clarke considers its position in relation to high art and decoration. Black and white chequerboard is a pattern found on many contemporary kitchen floors yet can also be traced, for example, to domestic scenes of seventeenth century Dutch painting. There is, however, a more disturbing dimension to this work. Embedded into the vinyl pattern are silhouettes of human casualties, mostly children, of recently reported wars and violence. The domestic realm evokes home as a place of safety and nurture yet every day it mediates a host of inconceivable truths conveyed not only from the external world but also from within its own walls.
Paris Days, curated by Liz Ashburn, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, UNSW, 2002
Sally Clarke, Parisian Sponge, 2002, acrylic on MDF, aluminium. Photo: Sue Blackburn
Tactile Art Award, Object Galleries, Customs House, 2001
Sally Clarke and Brenda Factor, Great Movements in Art: Figs 1-3, 2001, vinyl blowers. Photos: Andy Stevens.