The Artist and His Legacy
Hulings' work defines a modernist sensibility without departing from the real—without removing all that is recognizable or deluding the audience by escaping into the wholly abstract.
The Modern Realist
Hulings undermined the distraction of class, reminding us that most people don’t move between glamorous towers or drag their knuckles. He showcased the dignity, nobility, and beauty of common people and ordinary things.
One of the Great Discoverers
Hulings insisted the contemporary world could only be fully understood by specific, personal awareness of its inhabitants. Therefore, he was relentlessly devoted to the figure and figurative work. He pursued stunning multinational backdrops replete with the day-to-day realities only visible through the lens of an international nomad.
Challenging an Audience & Status Quo
A relentless experimenter, Hulings exploited modern techniques from the conventions of impressionism and abstract art, bending them with equal ease into the service of an open-ended art of the figure that wouldn’t limit itself to conventional realist boundaries. His compositional "recipes" enabled him to play the sly subversive, literally slipping things under our noses that we might otherwise be too closed to notice.
Advancing the Craft and its Meaning
Clark Hulings assailed our bias toward the “other” by engaging culture through visceral daily reality. An enemy of distraction, he reprimanded modernism’s flight from that challenge and into the purely abstract. He instead produced a continuous documentary of a changing world at the pace of its most common inhabitants.
Freshly Revealed
New Hulings discoveries every week!
Auction Alert: Still Life With Chinese Jar
“A Hulings still life is always dynamic and full of movement, even if the overall effect is a calming one.” In the midst of so much rapid and unexpected change, stillness can be a beautiful thing. As we listen to our doctors and public health officials and take all necessary practical measures to stay well […]
Auction Alert: Washing Clothes In A Canal
“If this reminds you of the humor and frustration of convincing a child or grandchild to pick up the pace, it may be the perfect addition to your collection.” If you have ever spent time with children between about ages five and ten…you know they are masters of the dawdle. You’re trying to get the […]
Auction Alert: Burro Near Talpa, NM
“It’s signature subject matter for Hulings, who admired burros’ self-determined personalities, loyalty, and amazing capacity for hard work.” Quiet moments are hard to come by, but this painting really gives us a moment to exhale. Burro Near Talpa, NM is a 16 x 24″ snow scene—a study exploring the muted silvery gray-green palette Hulings used to […]
Auction Alert: Torremolinos, Once
Torremolinos, Once oil on canvas, 27 x 44” 1998 price available on request For sale through The Scottsdale Art Auction—please email or call 843-247-2217 for more information. Read our Freshly Revealed piece about this painting: “Paint More, Sleep Less”
Auction Alert: Market Day, San Miguel de Allende
“The whole scene has a feeling of being under the protective canopy provided by the verdant tree and the church.” San Miguel de Allende, Mexico has captured the imaginations of so many fine artists. This 1967 Hulings’ work is a masterful one; a standout example of his series of paintings with San Miguel subject matter. […]
Auction Alert: Konya Carriage
“There’s an end-of-day feeling with the setting amber sun creating long shadows and highlighting the dust kicked-up by the horses.” The Scottsdale Art Auction in April 2020 features a series of beautiful Clark Hulings paintings that represent a number of eras, places, and styles from his body of work. Spinning City This week, we travel […]
“Ears” to the Ground
“Sometimes the irregular is what makes things beautiful, Mr. De Meo said.” —Jason Horowitz Traditional crafts become even more precious as industrialization becomes ever-more present. So many stories are bound-up in the skills transmitted through generations of artists and makers. A recent Jason Horowitz New York Times piece features a current photo of the “pasta […]
Full Circle
“The load of thatch has been left, the men and their dogs have bid each other farewell, and the donkey with the cart is led away.” As we enjoy the holidays, we thought it might be time for some beautiful Irish greenery. The shortest day of the year has just passed, and no matter if […]
Water Work
“What competence I possess as an oil painter I feel I owe to the years I spent working exclusively in watercolor.”—Clark Hulings In Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1964, the NarBil Gallery featured a one-man exhibit of watercolors by Clark Hulings that included Mending Nets—Torremolinos, Spain. Hulings spent the three years prior to the exhibition traveling in […]
Apples to Apples
“It’s a masterful study in how the light hits a variety of shapes and colors, with the curves of the apples looking especially three-dimensional.” This still life is just the thing for a post-holiday moment of relaxation. Do you prefer apple or pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving…or something else entirely? In this 1988 painting, Hulings is […]
Analyze This
“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” —Sigmund Freud Just Because You’re a Pessimist, Doesn’t Mean Things are Rosy… Author and psychoanalyst Allen Wheelis was called a pessimist, even by his wife. A noted writer with fourteen published fiction and non-fiction books, as well as pieces for […]
Auction Alert: Old Lady in Black – Valencia
“The old lady in black was still there, and I showed her a reproduction of the painting. Big mistake! We spent the next hour going from stall to stall to exhibit her new-found fame.” It’s been a while since we’ve featured a Hulings market scene, and today, we’re in Valencia, Spain. Many artists explore multiple […]
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