old site – http://www.judithclute.co.uk/
facebook – https://www.facebook.com/judith.clute
instagram – https://www.instagram.com/clutejudith
“..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.
The painting above is “Slippage” from 1998, and it is 335 x 335 mm in size.
And below is “World Wide” from 2016. It is 750 x 1050 mm in size.
“The Garden” 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” was finished in 2017. It is 915 x 915 mm in size. Below.
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’s a painting that has a shaman in the upper corner. It is “Trauma of the Gap”, 2018. Its framed size is 545 x 785 mm. Below.
“Punctuated Equilibrium”: this painting 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” is from 2012, and is 1030 x 730 mm in size. Below.
Again I’m using Hieronymus Bosch but I’ve completely changed one of his tormented figures from the Hell side of the “Garden of Earthly Delights”. “Tango of the Celebrants” is from 2018. It’s framed size is 545 x 785 mm. Below.
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. “The Cat that Walked by Himself” is from 2002, and is 750 x 900 mm in size. Below.
“Locked Room Mystery” is from 2009 and is 845 x 640 mm in size. Below.
“Bone Clocks” is from 2016, and is 590 x 440 mm in size. Below.
“Dazzle” is from 2015, and is 1045 x 792 mm in size. Below.
“Bone Scan” is from 2010, and is 460 x 350 mm in size. Below.
“Stamen” is from 2010, and is 792 x 1045 mm in size. Below.
“Rat leaving Spielberg” is from 2001, and it is 335 x 335 mm in size. Below.
“Voiced” (used for the cover of John Clute’s Stay, Beccon 2014) was painted in 2013. It is 1045 x 792 mm in size. Below.
“Cavé!” is from 2016. It is 790 x 640 mm in size. Below.
“Night and Silence” is from 2009. It is 790 x 640 mm in size. Below.
“Cliff” is from 2016. It is 790 x 640 mm in size. Below.
“Consenting Adults” is from 2006. It is 970 x 670 mm in size. Below.
“Will You Join the Dance?” is from 2015, and is 640 x 490 mm in size. Below.
“So Tell Me I’m Wrong” is from 2017, and is 432 x 432 mm in size. Below.
“Fit for Purpose”, is from 2017, and is 785 x 530 mm in size. Below:
“Facing you” is from 2018. It is 540 x 790 mm. Below.
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.”