The most extensive presentation of Tony Clark’s practice since 1998

The University of Melbourne has announced a major exhibition by Tony Clark, one of Australia’s most respected artists, presented at Buxton Contemporary from 1 November 2024 – 27 April 2025. Titled Tony Clark: Unsculpted, the exhibition is a multifaceted overview of more than four decades of work, exploring the capacity of painting to test the boundaries between genres and disciplines.

Tony Clark: Unsculpted is the most extensive presentation of Clark’s practice since 1998. Curated by Jacqueline Doughty, Head Curator, Art Museums, University of Melbourne, in close consultation with the artist, the exhibition brings together over 100 works spanning a 40 year period, including a number of new works and major works on loan from public and private collections.

The exhibition takes a closer look at Tony Clark's sustained interest in the representation of sculpture and sculptural relief through painted form. This presents a unique perspective on the artist’s prolific practice, departing from the Myriorama landscape paintings for which he is best known.

Characterised by a sequential approach to image-making and a style which he describes as “punk classicism”, Clark’s paintings borrow from the histories of art, architecture, theatre design and decorative arts, often subverting hierarchies between these disciplines. Through ongoing bodies of work that repeat and reconfigure familiar themes, Clark has built an iterative visual language that is distinctively his own.

Charlotte Day, Director, Art Museums, University of Melbourne, says: “During the development of Unsculpted, Tony Clark has taken the opportunity to look back and review his practice, and also to realise the potential of new projects and ways of working. We look forward to introducing Clark’s distinctive practice to a new generation of audiences and readers”.

Notable series featured in the exhibition include Chinoiserie, Jasperware, and Prix de Rome, which draw from historical influences such as the illusionistic paintings of Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna and Wedgwood porcelain relief patterns, showcasing Clark’s exploration into the sculptural potential of painted imagery. Through subtle shading and modelling he creates dynamic tension between two- and three dimensional forms, a process he describes as "distancing the painting from painting."

Tony Clark: Unsculpted will also feature a number of new collaborative projects. Melbourne-based artist Joanne Ritson has created a series of sculptures based upon drawings from Tony Clark’s sketchbooks for his Jasperware series. Melbourne-based choreographer Shelley Lasica will present a new solo performance as part of her ongoing project with Tony Clark, Represent (2013 – present).Melbourne-based master mosaicist Fabian Scaunich will create an interpretation of a drawing by Tony Clark in stone and glass tesserae. UK-based composer Kevin Flanagan will compose an overture for the exhibition, which will be performed live during the launch by students from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Tony Clarksays: “At different times in the history of Western painting, references to sculpture have had an important expressive meaning. They have usually been a way for the painter to declare a link with the past, even when the style or technique of the painting itself is clearly modern. The best paintings of this type are not nostalgic evocations, but premonitions of a possible future”.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a major publication, with essays and texts by 11 guest writers including art historians, curators and artists such as Robyn McKenzie, Chris McAuliffe, Magdalene Keaney, Michael Graf, Lyndal Walker and Stephen Bram.

Jacqueline Doughty, Head Curator, Art Museums, University of Melbourne, says: “This exhibition has been shaped by the artist himself to highlight the ideas most significant to his thinking over the course of forty years, ideas that Clark has developed further in specially commissioned works that take his practice to unexpected places. We anticipate that the exhibition’s emphasis on the relationship between painting and sculpture will provide a fresh perspective on some of Tony Clark’s most-loved works”.