James Clarkson: Comedian, Corinthian, Caricature

About

For his exhibition at Public House Projects, Sheffield based artist James Clarkson has created an installation of entirely new works that extend his exploration of the relationship between art and design history, painting and sculpture, found and public materials.
Comedian, Corinthian, Caricature brings together a group of sculptural and wall based works that reference Fernand Leger's seminal painting 'Mona Lisa with Keys' (1930). Made during Leger's later career, in a return to realist painting, the work depicts a painted replica of Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' juxtaposed with a bunch of keys. Clarkson's works reference the formal attributes of the painting and create an expanded narrative between the constituent elements that question historical notions of the hierarchy between high art and everyday materials. For Clarkson, Leger's idea of a non-hierarchical equality of form becomes the central point of the exhibition, bringing together a diverse range of materials that through a series of juxtapositions create tensions between functionality and purpose.
James Clarkson is an artist based in Sheffield. Recent Exhibitions include: A Chance Encounter Between an Umbrella and a Sewing Machine, Rhubaba, Edinburgh; User Selection - Driven Evolution, Supercollider, Blackpool; How to be a Magician in Your Spare Time, Kunst Projects, Berlin; The Event, Lombard Method, Birmingham; The Palace at 4am, Pavement, Permanent Gallery, Brighton; Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts Arts London.
James has recently collaborated with artist Haroon Mirza on his solo exhibition at Spike Island, Bristol and was selected as one of Modern Painters, '100 artists to watch', December/January Issue 2012.