Those who subscribe to fashion’s monolithic reduction of beauty and vitality to a uniform size and shape might find Marna Clarke’s striking and moving exhibition and book, “Time As We Know It, “ an opportunity to grow beyond the narrow circumscriptions of taste. Artists have long pushed the edge of awareness, and Ms. Clarke’s work invites us to open up to a shifting perspective that takes us out of the fetishistic cult of youth that drives otherwise sane women and men to facelifts and Botox and excess
consumption.
Ms. Clarke’s vision of aging beauty is embodied in the daily life of a couple whose lives are linked by love and the multi-faceted and tender companionship of two independent spirits, each hard-working and accomplished artists. In the book, beautifully designed and sequenced, are images of the artist as an engaging infant, an irrepressible girl, a knock-out beauty on the threshold of life, a loving mother of two sons, and the portraits of recent exposure whose depth and resonance keep us coming back for another look. These images are arresting—the highest accolade, the mark of great art.
In an intimate series of portraits and telling moments that are both original and utterly familiar, Ms. Clarke shares what has been virtually out of range: the impulses, gestures and “unmasked moments” of a woman of a certain age, hitherto relegated to the reductive and dismissive category of “has been” in the scripted lexicon. These images are a revelation and invitation to rejoice in continuing vitality and in the vibrant, sensual and tender moments that are also ours to embody when we accept ourselves as we are: gracefully aging.
And while we have a glimpse into her life, we are never voyeurs, the nudes never sensational. The depth, clarity and profound beauty of these extraordinary images of ordinary life are touching and heartening. Perhaps we can infer from the cutting-edge sensibility and meticulous craftsmanship that we are emerging from adolescence to sapience and
maturity.
Ms. Clarke’s work, which represents the culmination of a five-year inquiry and journey into her subject, are on exhibit at Gallery Route One through Jan. 17. A salon will be held that day from 4 to 5 p.m. The book, and prints, can be purchased at marnaclarke.com.
Carla Steinberg has been reviewing exhibitions for the Light since the mid-70s, commencing with Christo’s Running Fence. She lives in Inverness.