old site – http://www.judithclute.co.uk/
facebook – https://www.facebook.com/judith.clute
instagram – https://www.instagram.com/clutejudith
Slippage 1998 oil …. 335 x 335 mm
“..to present painterly arguments about what it feels like to be a human animal living deep within our history on this planet” is what I’m about, and since I’ve been on this planet since 1942, I have had some time delving. I apprenticed with Françoise André 1961-63, married John Clute 1964, worked in Aspen Colorado, Toronto Canada, Hydra Greece and have been in London since a special exhibition at the London Arts Lab, 1970.
There, I changed my paintings completely and undid everything I had previously learned. I’m still experimenting with new/old imagery and my painterly arguments go back and forth with various levels of focus. Sometimes there are references to the wise sages that lived on the North American continent before the white man inhabited the land. They suggested we should “walk lightly upon the Earth” and live in balance and harmony.
This site, my third, is simpler than the other two. My last site, judithclute.co.uk, as mentioned above, is still up and has, for instance, an archive basement with images of paintings sold within their decades and has sections for book covers, illustrations, publications, and lists of exhibitions. But everything is low res. That site hardly works on phones or tablets.
A Selection.
World Wide 2016 oil ….. 750 x 1050 mm
“The Garden” below was a recent commission for I CAN SPIN A RAINBOW: Amanda Palmer and Edward Ka-Spel’s new album. The lower left corner became the front cover. The full painting is on the back of the vinyl.
The Garden 2017 oil …. 915 x 915 mm
The above title comes from a continuing theme I have threaded through my work: “Darkening Garden”. And that relates to John Clute’s short lexicon of horror, “The Darkening Garden” published in 2006 by Payseur and Schmidt. I like his description of creatures from Fantastika: “..they march to the tune of history turning out of Eden..”.
Here below is a painting that has a shaman in the upper corner.
Trauma of the Gap 2018 oil and acrylic …. 545 x 785 mm
“Punctuated Equilibrium” below makes reference to Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights”. I snatch out three small characters who, in Bosch’s painting, are mouth-opened with longing as they gape at a giant raspberry. In my painting they are under the influence of an Inuit raven. The title refers to Stephen Jay Gould’s theory of evolution as in sudden leaps. It also refers to the prologue of Stanley Kubrick’s “Space Odyssey”, 1968.
Punctuated Equilibrium 2012 oil …. 1030 x 730 mm
Again I’m using Hieronymus Bosch but I’ve completely changed one of his tormented figures from the Hell side of the triptych, “Garden of Earthly Delights”.
Tango of the Celebrants 2018 oil …. 545 x 785 mm
Around the same time as Hieronymus Bosch there is also International Gothic and it has always been a favourite place to drop into. There I study how to construct a painting on the formal flat surface. In Inuit art, too, I find not only compelling designs in the flat, but also permissions to present images up-side-down and sideways and generally play with scale.
The Cat that Walked by Himself 2002 oil …. 750 x 900 mm
Locked Room Mystery 2009 oil …. 845 x 640 mm
Bone Clocks 2016 oil …. 590 x 440 mm
Dazzle 2015 oil …. 1045 x 792 mm
Bone Scan 2010 oil …. 460 x 350 mm
Stamen 2010 oil …. 792 x 1045 mm
Rat Leaving Spielberg 2001 oil …. 335 x 335 mm
Voiced 2013 oil …. 1045 x 792 mm
Voiced was used for the cover of John Clute’s Stay, Beccon 2014
Cavé 2016 oil …. 790 x 640 mm
Night and Silence 2009 oil …. 790 x 640 mm
Cliff 2016 oil …. 790 x 649 mm
Consenting Adults 2006 oil and acrylic …. 970 x 670 mm
Will You Join the Dance? 2015 oil and acrylic …. 640 x 490 mm
So Tell Me I’m Wrong 2017 oil …. 432 x 432 mm
Fit For Purpose 2017 oil …. 785 x 530 mm
Facing You 2018 oil …. 540 x 790 mm
Joe Haldeman on Judith Clute’s painting: “Of course a basic element I’ve always loved in Clute’s work is the easy marriage of abstract freedom with realist skill. Freedom within a frame, always. And realism with an eldritch sense of what is real.”