Due to his parents' poor health, Clive was unable to pursue further education in art after leaving school, required instead to provide regular income into the household. For many years he earned extra money working as a musician on top of his full-time job. Once his own family was raised and had left home, he was able to devote himself to art once more. It was seeing a double portrait by Sargent in Tate Britain that inspired Clive to become a figurative artist - a decision that led him to seek out tuition from world-class artists on both sides of the Atlantic. It is this combination of artistic sensibilities on top of his working-class roots that gives Clive's art a distinctive feel.
Clive's intention is always to create work which has an intensity of presence. That intensity often comes from the thinking behind the piece and extends into the way the paint is applied. "All art that appeals to me, be it painting, sculpture, music or poetry, has an intense presence to it. Once created, it is a thing in-and-of itself. It was like it had always existed."
Artist Statement: "For years, I had tried to understand the difference between art that moved me, and art that left me cold. How is it that a simple Munch woodprint could hold my attention for half an hour, whereas I could easily walk past much more outwardly impressive works? Finally, it hit me:Intensity of Presence. It's that "thing". It's hard to describe and impossible to put into words, but you know it; you feel it. Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Munch's Scream, Picasso's Guernica, Beatles' Abbey Road, Bacon's Triptychs, Lennon's Imagine, Pink Floyd's The Wall. It's hard to think of a time when these things didn't exist. They stand proudly and solidly in our history, and all have an intensity of presence. That's what excites me, and what I try to encapsulate in everything I create." |