A Year in the
Life of a City
Recent Photographs by David Clarke
10 February to 18 March 2007
The
University Museum and Art Gallery of The University
of Hong Kong is delighted to present an exhibition
of recent photographs by David Clarke. The exhibition
features photographs taken over a random twelve month
period between October 2004 and October 2005, which
depict a fabricated and at times personal journey
through Hong Kong. Also included will be a selection
of earlier, and more recent works.
In
an earlier installation entitled 1968/2002, the Museum
presented Clarke's first experiments with film, and
later also selections from his Reclaimed Land project,
which consisted of a picture taken every day over
the five year period straddling the passage of sovereignty
over Hong Kong from Britain to China. Throughout,
Clarke has used black and white film and, as a mature
photographer, a 40mm Leica Minilux camera.
For
the first time, in this latest project, Clarke has
turned to the digital camera (from the Panasonic Lumix
range which represents continuity with his earlier
work through the use of Leica lenses) and colour photography.
As in his earlier work, Clarke is interested in the
visual poetry that exists in the urban environment.
In seeking to bring some of his understanding of colour
and composition, informed by years of looking at paintings,
to his photography, he often chooses more painterly
images over straightforward views of Hong Kong in
an attempt to draw attention away from the apparent
veracity or descriptiveness of the scenes depicted.
Clarke's photographs capture fleeting moments, feelings
and experiences that contribute to the texture of
Hong Kong, and which, as he turns his camera away,
disappear completely.
David
Clarke is a professor in the Department of Fine Arts,
The University of Hong Kong. He obtained his Ph.D
from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of
London. He teaches modern and contemporary art history
and theory. His research has been primarily in American
and Chinese art history.
