It all begins with a flaw and believing in the untapped potential of an overlooked slab of wood.
Oliver Clark is a sculptor best known for his monumental steam-bent compositions, as well as his small collectible works. All of Clark's works are sculpted by hand from sustainably sourced wood unfit for traditional woodworking. He finds beauty in the checks and cracks of each slab and transforms them into focal points for his work. His artistic language is influenced by his great-grand father's Neo-Gothic ornamentation, contemporary interpretations of classical mythology, and zen aesthetics.
Statement
I study allegories, mythology, and biblical narratives. I use their symbolic truths of human nature to create metaphorical sculptures indicative of Icarus’s flight, the discord of the Iliad, and Odysseus’s winding path home. The structural elements of each sculpture consists of cracked and checked wood unfit for traditional woodworking. This choice embodies biblical motifs of redemption. As a whole, by using a language of hand-tool marks, coradage, stone inlay, and steam-bent curves, the sculptures convey abstract and spiritual meaning.
As a reflection of natural life, each piece is built from start to finish– never restarting, but always adapting. I incorporate wedges and lapis lazuli inlay to repair loose joinery and emphasize cracks. Every flaw becomes a focal point rather than a mistake to hide. I do not rely on machining wood into modular components, but instead slowly guide the wood into shape in order to retain the tree’s vitality. My methods subvert the perfectionism of traditional woodworking and instead are more akin to the gesture of an impressionist’s palette knife. Textures of split wood, carved flourishes, and smooth surfaces illustrate how people are not complete, but in a state of growth or decay. My compositions resonate with a variety of art historical references such as the rays and angles of Kandinsky, the wabi sabi praise of Nakashima’s woodworks, to the rising energy of Brancusi’s Bird in Space.
I pursue beauty, craft, and timeless truths. The beauty I pursue is inspired by my Great-Grandfather James Clark– a neo-gothic architect known for his cathedral ornamentation. In 2018, I was awarded a grant to visit James's mentor Sir Robert Lorimer’s architectural sites in Scotland and to participate in an intensive steam bending workshop. Lorimer’s Thistle Chapel awakened the desire to add carvings to my work. Learning to bend wood from a blacksmith advanced my simple arches into full twists and loops. Allowing each steam bent curve to culminate into an organic flourish to celebrate the joy of being bent and shaped under the sculptor's hand. My sculptures encapsulate the beauty found in the diversity between perfection and imperfection.