We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robert Clarke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robert below.

Robert, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

As a young man 13-14 I knew I wasn’t going to be a bouncer …(my fathers job later to become a nightclub manager )… I always painted and drew and it would at some point be a challenge for me to explain this to my parents …both working class , but voted Tory in the 70’s which is I guess what people are doing now as there is a tory government in the UK and brexit was a symptom of very misguided racist empire loving people from my fathers generation that tipped the divide on departing from Europe …
They were not educated and expected me to get a job at 16 ,…I got the hell out of that house at 16 …and went to Art school ..
So they were instrumental in my rebellion against them and their views …
They were good parents in that they allowed me eventually to do what I wanted but years later still didn’t quite understand it .

Robert, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always painted and drawn ….A good Art teacher will always lead to you a higher education in the Visual Arts Growing up in the 60’s &70’s Art class was for throwing stuff around and bunking off …generally misbehaving …but actually having a passion as early as 6 years of age was such an asset .I won many school prizes…Lots of fancy writing pens ….
I did A’ level art early and flew onto a foundation course ,which allows you to try many varied art forms , sculpture , pottery , drawing ,painting it gives you a feel for the spectrum of the arts .I chose fine art painting and went to St martins school of Art in Soho London ,home of fashion designers and painters ,sculptors and graphic designers ..
It was 1983 ,john Galliano graduated in 84 ,Peter Doig left in 85 ..Hussein Charlayan was there with Alexander Mc Queen .A rich and varied creative melange in 80’s and early 90’s London …
I left in 86 worked at katherine Hamnett on brompton road Chelsea in 87 …Then went back to partner Dave of Dave’s Coffee Bar the most hip and cool bar in London only students could hang out at ….it was the beginning of Rave ,Acid ,MDMA,,a lively adrenaline fueled adventure to be sure ..
In 1992 they closed the bar and worked in a few nightclubs as the interior designer ,,ICENI ,Hanover Grand to name a few .
1995 I then went into advertising as an Art Director at a new concept called Magic Hat a Sub division of Mc Cann Erickson doing “youth” Campaigns with MTV VH1 and Nescafe instant coffee ,,,the first time a print ad did not have actual product in it …I left advertising in 2001 and started an Art Gallery called Pea ….it ran for a year ….
I then began to paint full time …
.. I was picked up by a gallery in London in 2010 for my animals ,then I did an A-Z of dogs which was a sell out show …later that year I had a show in Mott st NYC of the A-Z of NY Dogs …working with my long time collaborator Suki at the Print Block in Whitstable in Kent she screenprinted all my work
2011 I was asked to write and draw a book called Masters of leather for the Spanish Luxury brand LOEWE.
with a show in Madrid and Global windows it was a fantastic project to be part of .
With galleries showing my dogs in the US and UK ….I have focused on dogs these last few years …
But this year I have just produced a new A-Z of Montauk a 20″ x 28″ poster of Historical and relevant landmarks and people in the 11954 zip code …
and will be showing at the Historical society Fair in July /august/sept

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

The sheer glory of being able to think through ideas that then manifest themselves into visual arts .. I think everyone should have an Art education at 18 to discover tolerance ,understanding and open mindedness in a crazy capitalistic society ,that cares more about money than people ,more about the bottom line than sharing ….
One thing I learned from being an art student is everyone is different ,everyone is searching for their own identity and for me Art is the vehicle for inner understanding ..

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

in the early 2000’s I worked with my then Girlfriend an interior designer ,who would do show flats(english) ,to sell the unfinished apartments to prospective buyers in London She would have say an orange cushion on a yellow sofa …and would say to me can you paint me a 6′ x 4′ Rothkoesque
canvas for this wall .and some green birds in 12’x 9″ frames ….
I would be paid a lump sum and it was a commercial art deal ..
One day a lady came to see one of the show apartment and she loved these little birds I had drawn , she then asked me if I would like to put some drawings in her new store on Columbia road market …
I did , I gave her 20 drawings and the following week she had sold all but one …
This was a chance , but then a lady came into her store and said ” does he do dogs?”
that was the beginning ….
I then met Trevor the Fox terrier and painted him for what seems a small amount of money the $600 for a 12″ x 12′ on canvas ,,Trevors owner then asked if she could use the image for a Christmas card ,,,which she did and it got sent out to many of her friends …one of whom was the Rebecca Hossack Gallery …a month after Christmas I had my first dog show …..chance !
Also…as an aside I painted by chance Kate Moss’s Travel Agents Dog Frankie and Kate saw it and commissioned me to do Archie.

Contact Info:

• Website: robertjamesclarkeart.com
• Instagram: @areclarke @azmontauk
• Facebook: Robert James Clarke