About the artist:

John Clem Clarke was born in Bend, Oregon on June 6, 1937. He studied at Mexico City College, at Oregon State University, and at the University of Oregon where he received a B.F.A. in 1960. Clarke has worked in New York City since 1964. The work of John Clem Clarke straddles pop art and appropriation. In his best known work of the 60s Clarke updated scenes from classical art with contemporary figures and settings. he also appropriated exact images, using sometimes second rate reproductions as his source material. Solo exhibitions include Exhibitions: 1967, 1969, 1972, 1973 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 1968 Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1970 22 Realists, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 1974 Tokyo Biennial ’74, Tokyo, Japan. 1973 Realism Now, New York Cultural Center, New York. 1978 Art about Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 1989 Image World-Art and Media Culture, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 1998 Solo Exhibition and Retrospective, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania Collections: Metropolitan Museum of Art The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago