Bruce Clarke England, b. 1959

"Concerning the formal element, I use ripped, lacerated fragments of paper, newspaper, posters etc. I work them, rough them up, soak them in colour. Words and colour, words and images become one and are recomposed on the canvas. The words and texts don't necessarily have direct links with the images; they aren't descriptions of the images and the images aren't illustrations for the words; I'm not commenting, I'm recomposing after having flattened the figures on the painted surface. The documents I use come from a certain context: the media, the press, tele-visual images, the flood of "information" which assails us daily. These formal elements are then transformed and re-placed in another context, which is basically a canvas on a stretcher.
In one sense, the "found" and chosen fragments are first "de-contextualised"- to give them a different meaning, a meaning often very different from the original one. There's a sort of transfiguration, a displacement of meaning. I deconstruct in order to "re-present", with my own proper sensitivities to meanings. It's precarious: I put myself into the situation of go-between, of "medium", to accompany the passage." Bruce Clarke

SOLO SHOW

2021

- "Walking the Line",  ARTCO Gallery,  Berlin, Germany

 

2020

- "Invisible Memories",  Centre d’Art de Bonneuil, France 

 

2019 

- "En Suspension",  Maison Rouge, Cotonou, Bénin 

- "Predators",  Out of Africa Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
- "Voices",  Galerie Carole Kvasnevski, Paris
- "Ses Ghosts",  Alliance française Joahnnesburg
- "Predators and Other Friends",  Galerie Art-Z, Paris
- "Lifting the Veil",  Royal Theatre of Marrakech, Morocco

 

2018 
- "Birth of an Icon",  Kloser Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium 
- "Front Lin",  espace Anis Gras, Arcueil, France 
- Alliance française de Lusaka, Zambia

 

2017
- "Sea Ghosts",  Artco Gallery, Aachen 
- "New Horizons",  cloître des Billettes, Paris
- "Living Memory and Upright Men",  Coutances Museum, France


2016
- "Sea Ghosts", French Institue, Nouakchott, Mauritania

 

2015
- "Daily Violence",  Multimedia centre Lormont, France


2014
- "Humanities",  Gallery Out of Africa, Sitges, Barcelona, Spain
- "En toute impunité",  Gallery Les Naufragés du Temps, St Malo, France
- "Upright Men", Simultaneous exhibitions (Geneva, Lausanne, Paris, Brussels, Luxemburg, Kigali, Limoges, Liège…) for the 20th commemoration of genocide in Rwanda


2013
- "Precarious Lives",  Gallery Julio Gonzalez, Arceuil, France
- Janus Gallery, Montreux, Switzerland
- M.I.A. Gallery Seattle, United States
- "Body and Souls", Grenoble, France, Maison de l’International

 

2012
- Artium Gallery, Luxemburg
- Fondation Zinsou, Benin

 

2011
- "Who’s Afraid",  Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris

 

2010
- Neumünster Abby, Luxemburg
- Artium Gallery, Luxemburg
- Bekris Gallery, San Francisco, United States
- Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France

 

2009
- Geneva Book Fair, Switzerland

 

2007
- "Other(s)", l’Art et la Paix Gallery, France


2006
- Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France
- Arcima Gallery, Paris, France
- "Troubled identity, mixed identity",  Plein Sud Festival, Cozes, France

 

2005
- "Arrêt sur Image",  Gallery, Bordeaux, France

 

2004
- "I’m writing to you from the Garden of memory" – installation, Dak’Art off, St Louis, Senegal
- Les Naufragés du Temps Gallery, St Malo, France

 

2002
- Union des Arts Plastiques, Guest artist, St-Etienne-du-Rouvray, France
- "Fragments of tomorrow’s History",  L’Artchipel, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe

 

2001
- Centre Rémy Nainsouta, Guadeloupe, French Caribbean.

 

2000
- "I’m writing to you from the Garden of memory" – Installation, Gallery Porte 2a, Bordeaux, France
- Château de St-Ouen, Saint-Ouen, France
1999
- French Cultural Centre, Kigali, Rwanda
- "Fragments of History",  Grenoble International, Grenoble, France

 

1997
- Rayon Vert Gallery, Nantes, France
- South African Embassy, Paris, France
- Museum of Romans, Romans, France

 

1996
- Marina Gallery, Avignon, France

 

GROUP SHOW

2023

- "SMALL IS SMART",  Barcelona Winter Group Show, OOA GALLERY - Barcelona, Spain

 

2020

- " DIALOGUES, techniques on paper",  Afikaris - Paris, France

- Intersect Aspen 2020, Out of Africa Gallery - Barcelona, Spain

 

2019

- Beirut Art Fair 2019, Out of Africa Gallery - Barcelona, Spain

- "ON PAPER", ARTCO Gallery - Aachen, Germany
- Urban Art Fair

 

2018
- Art Paris 2018, Grand Palais, Paris
- Fusions, avec Migrations Culturelle 2a (MC2a), Bordeaux, France

 

2017
- Galerie Vallois, (avec l'artiste Aston) paris
- Sea Ghosts, Gorée Island, in the Festival "Regards sur Cours)

 

2016
- AKAA Art Fair, Paris
- Tribute to Dak’Art, Martigny, Switzerland
- "Sea Ghosts",  Subabiennale, Dak’Art Off, Senegal,
- "Targets",  ArtCo Gallery, Aachen, Germany
- Cape Town Art Fair, Le Cap Johannesburg

 

2015
- Africa/Africains, Museu Afrrobresil, Sao Paolo, Brazil
- Global Topics, ArtCo Gallery, Aachen, Germany

 

2014
- FNB Art Fair, Johannesburg

 

2013
- Etonnants Voyageurs Festival, Saint-Malo, France

 

2012
- Iwalewa Haus – Bayreuth, Germany
- Boxe Boxe, Fondation Blachère – Apt, France

 

2010
- Couleur Café Festival, Bruxelles, Belgium

 

2009
- Africajarc Festival, Carjac, France

 

2008
- Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France
- Contemporary Art Fair, Espace Pierre Bergé, Bruxelles, Belgium

 

2007
- East African Biennale, Dar es Salam, Tanzania

 

2004
- -5 La Galerie.be, Bruxelles, Belgium
- -5 Musée des Arts Derniers, Paris, France
- Ephémère Gallery, Montigny-le-Tilleul, Belgium

 

2003
- L’Essor Gallery, Le Sentier, Switzerland

 

2002
- Dak’art Biennale, Dakar Senegal

 

2001
- Belfort Art and History Museum – with Edith Convert, Belfort, France
- The Artist and the Real, Maison de la Culture de la Nièvre, Nevers, France

 

1998
- Kulturfabrik, Luxembourg

 

1995
- Africanités, Saintonge Gallery, Paris, France
- art’CRA, Accra, Ghana

 

1994
- De l’Afrique à l’Afrique, Gallery Yahia, Tunis, Tunisia

 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Museu Afro-Brasil, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Tilder Foundation, France
Zinsou Foundation, Cotonou, Benin
Contemporary Art Museum, Ouidah, Benin
Blachère Foundation, France
Tilder Foundation, France
Artocarpe, Guadeloupe contemporary art museum, France
Cities of Paris, Bordeaux, Bègles, France
Museum for Palestine, UNESCO, Paris 

 

Interviews in English (selection) 

Thinking Africa

 

Interviews in French (selection) 

Cinemondes Festival
L’Humanité newspaper on Mandela 
RFI (French international service)  

 

SHORT FILM

Words aren’t enough

 

Selection of videos on Upright Men project (English and French) 

Je suis debout / I'm standing upright