ALONE WITH MATERIALS

Vol. 4 JONATHAN YUKIO CLARK, June 3, 2020

Enjoy this studio visit on the Island of Maui, HI, to which multi-disciplinary artist JONATHAN YUKIO CLARK has recently returned after living several years in New York City.

Jonathan is fascinated with how the natural world integrates with the built world and the relationships between inhabited space and the dynamics of human cultures. As he draws, paints and sculpts, he describes his distinct forms as different paces of the same breath.

JONATHAN YUKIO CLARK (American, born in Maui, HI)

Jonathan Yukio Clark’s early works used mixed media painting to explore Hawaii’s distinct intermingling of cultures. As he branched out into other disciplines such as sculpture, printmaking, and textiles, his process has become increasingly introspective, looking to his family’s Japanese heritage and how relationship to location has shifted with each generation. The spaces they have inhabited and the photographs that document their past lifestyles are windows into understanding of how his own relationship to location both mirrors and diverges from what preceded him.

The morning the sun was snared, 2019, acrylic, dyed silk, gold leaf on panel, 56 x 48 in. © Jonathan Yukio Clark

Jonathan’s recent architectural sculpture explores permeable and temporary dividing elements such as windows, sliding doors, and other translucent partitions that frame, view and connect between interiors and exteriors. His masterful woodworking technique using a blend of local and foreign wood contributes to a quietly provoking atmosphere.

Across Two Islands, 2019, sugi, koa, gouache, tinted hydrocal, washi, silk, 13 x 32 x 11 in. © Jonathan Yukio Clark

Born and raised on the island of Maui, Jonathan received a BFA in painting from Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA in studio art from New York University, in addition to spending time as a research student in printmaking at Kyoto Seika University. After several years in New York, he now resides back in Hawai‘i and is Exhibits Coordinator at Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Schaefer International Gallery. He has exhibited at venues in New York and Hawai‘i, and his work is included in the Art in Public Places Collection of the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

Colors for the Sky, 2019, stained glass, sugi, koa, purpleheart, washi, tinted hydrocal, 16 x 70 x 5.5 in. © Jonathan Yukio Clark