Clive Barker An Imagineer Of Inspirational Art

Clive Barker has been an influence on my own art and especially his magnificent paintings that he has done for his recent best seller the books of Abarat in which he does the wonderful paintings of his fantastic fantasy world and the characters that inhabit this slightly surreal but visually stunning world of Abarat. Best known for writing dark and chilling Horror novels like the Hellbound Heart which later became the much loved classic Horror movie Hellraiser in which Clive directed himself and also Cabal which later he returned to Directing duties with one of my most favorite movies Nightbreed.

Quite extensive is Clives career in that he enjoys writing great stories, has had a hand in making movies and has created some of the most memorable art that I've ever seen with a distinctive style and mastery of the medium that he chooses. The DVD extra on The Midnight Meat Train gave us a nice insight into his paintings and his work studio and his actual way of working and painting collections was briefly explored as was his philosophy on art which he summed up in one perfect sentence which went something like "Art is it's own answer" when someone asks Why? on any piece of art.

Ever since I saw Clive Barker on the South Bank Show (which for people in the UK was a TV documentary program which featured creative pioneers who deserved to have been interviewed for their brilliant contributions to the arts world) I was inspired to draw and create more from my own imagination and it wasn't until quite recently that I was reminded of that very program through the wonderful online phenomenon called YouTube and was inspired once again but this time to pick up painting again and try and create my own ideas and creations. Also in that Television program from the early 1990's Clive mentioned that it's important not to let go of your imagination as early on we are conditioned to work the 9 to 5 and live a regular life which could suit some people, but that's never been what I wanted to do as I've always wanted to draw and create from my imagination.

Here are a couple of videos I managed to find on YouTube featuring Clive Barker talking through his art and paintings and I just find the Man totally fascinating in how he approaches his art and the visual style of his paintings are sometimes abstract and surreal and are great to look at and visually stunning.

In the following video Clive walks through an Art Gallery that Exhibited his work through some amazing examples of his work and some are from his extensive paintings for his Abarat books. Again simply listening to this Man and his insights into his work is fascinating as well as mesmerizing to look at his fantastically realised artwork and the inspiration of seeing a creative professional whose painted works are of a high standard and to see a collection of sketch ideas amidst his large canvas work was a nice touch too as the drawings and sketches look like workable concepts and ideas that might have been incomplete but they still hold some relevance to the overall gallery display.

In many of Clive Barkers Acrylic paintings I've seen a brilliant use of thick layered paint which when painted in lots of layers creates a nice Impasto effect that looks very effective in the way he paints his fantasy concepts. Of course in the first video above Clive explains and shows some of his work that he feels he over thought and so these became almost artistic rejects in a way, although really, no art should be classed as reject in anyway as everything painted and created serves some purpose to maybe help focus on the good ideas and the concepts that spontaneously happen on the canvas.

Take a walk With Clive Barker and see some of his art....

I thought I would link the videos here too of Clive on the Southbank shown way back in the 90's which gives some information and unique insights about Barker and his world renowned art and writing.