Alan Clarke
Although an opium-addicted octogenarian, Alan Clarke maintains a prodigious artistic output. He was schooled at the famed Bloedel-Niagara Academy of Applied Arts and Sciences in Bremen, and spent many years as official artist to the royal court of King Olav V of Norway. He has recently taken up residence in the verdant and sprawling Ballymalure Estate in the county Kilkenny, where he spends his time painting and drawing, and tending an extensive aviary. Unusually, for these times, he has never been photographed.
Clarke’s pictures conjure worlds that are whimsical, darkly comic, magical, sometimes grotesque but always beautifully executed. His work has been exhibited extensively in Ireland, and also in London, Cornwall, Chicago, Bologna, and Tokyo. His illustrations have appeared in numerous books, children’s books and other publications such as the 'Ross O'Carroll-Kelly' series, the children’s poetry collection 'Something Beginning With P' and 'Irish Tales of Mystery and Magic' by Eddie Lenihan.
