/dēkəmˈpōz/ decompose by Sean G. Clark is on display at the Arts + Literature Laboratory May 31 through August 6, 2022. There will be an opening reception on Friday, June 3, 2022 from 6-8 pm.
Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 12-5pm (free). The galleries will be closed July 9, 2022. Please check our current COVID-19 safety guidelines before your visit.
Artist Statement
During his time as a community health worker in New Orleans, Clark found himself contemplating the challenges people faced in their environment and the lack of attention these challenges received as he began to use art as an investigative tool to explore and document themes of health and African-American history. This exploration, in addition to the environmental and the societal, delves into a deeper consideration of a person's internal landscape. The investigation of how we think, feel, and act due to the impacts of unresolved grief, and its influences on health. From the external, to the internal, Clark’s abstract and figurative works seek to capture both the environment around us, and the internal narratives that guide us through them.
“It goes without saying, I believe, that if we understood ourselves better, we would damage ourselves less”
-James Baldwin, The Creative Process, 1962
/dēkəmˈpōz/ decompose Is a collection of work grounded in self investigation situated in the larger environment. Sean often asks in his work, “What are the various artifacts we can unearth about ourselves that bring us understanding about who we are, where we are and where we come from.” Is falling apart, or decomposing, really that bad if it helps us see the various parts of our own composition? To decompose is a catalyst for understanding all the parts built to make us who we were, where and what we are and who we hope to become.
