Brian Clarke: Collages

Collages is an inspiring collection of 327 collages created by British artist Sir Brian Clarke, who is widely considered the most progressive artist working with stained glass in the present day. Clarke has explored collage through the entire trajectory of his career, often using the medium as a study for his stained glass work. He first began working in collage aged 14 at the Burnley School of Art, 1967.


His early collages were influenced by Pop art and artists such as Richard Hamilton, Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, David Hockney and Robert Rauschenberg. Clarke also found inspiration from the Cubist works of Pablo Picasso and Surrealist works by Kurt Schwitters, as well as Constructivists such as El Lissitzky and Alexander Rodchenko.


The works shown in this book are inspired by nature and begin with line drawings of nasturtiums in white pencil on black paper, which Clarke began making in March 2022. Gradually, Clarke builds an ephemera of hand-painted paper cut-outs, similar to the collage work of Henri Matisse, to produce compositions in stunning colour.


The book features a foreword by HENI’s founder, Joe Hage, and an interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist, in which Clarke and Obrist discuss the influence of Clarke’s contemporaries and the intensely personal practice of his work in collage. Published to coincide with Clarke’s major exhibition at Newport Street Gallery, London in 2023.