Clay Sinclair

Biography

Born in Blenheim, New Zealand, Clay Sinclair grew up surrounded by painting through his father, the landscape artist Wayne Sinclair. Although drawn to making images from an early age, he initially pursued civil engineering, finding another creative outlet through music.

Moving to the UK in 1996 marked a turning point. An encounter with Hundertwasser’s Kunst Haus in Vienna opened his eyes to new possibilities in art, and painting became an increasingly important part of his life. After completing an MA in Urban Design, he eventually left engineering in 2004 to concentrate on developing his practice.

Selling his work at London’s Bayswater Road Art Market gave Clay direct contact with audiences and space to develop his distinctive technique of painting in reverse on Perspex. He subsequently joined Woolff Gallery, London, where a series of solo exhibitions and participation in international art fairs brought his work to a wider audience.

In 2016, Clay opened a gallery in Stroud and founded the People’s Republic of Stroud, a creative project expressing welcome and community through art and design. Following the gallery’s closure in 2020, he returned his focus to painting.

His recent work reflects a shift from questioning religion, identity and society towards exploring “nothingness” and “not knowing”. In his HALO and void paintings, intensely black centres become a focus for contemplation, inviting a personal encounter between viewer and artwork.

Artist’s Statement

Making art is an innate need for me: a way to express, experience and communicate. Even when I think I’m taking a break, that impulse finds another outlet. During a month travelling around Europe, I never touched the art materials I’d packed. When I wondered aloud whether I was still an artist, my wife pointed out the thousands of photographs I’d taken.

My inspiration comes from life: observation, experience and probably far too much thinking about what it means to be human. My work has often wrestled, sometimes humorously, with religion, identity and society. More recently, I’ve become more accepting of what is, both within myself and around me. Nothingness and not knowing have become important ideas in my life and, inevitably, in my art.

Materials have always shaped my work, from painting in reverse on Perspex to using intensely black material to create the voids at the centre of my latest paintings. I hope that, when someone spends time with one of these works, they feel a sense of becoming one with it. For me, they are tools through which the unconscious can become conscious.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024

HALO, The Sanctuary, Brimscombe Mill, Stroud.

2016, 2014, 2012 and 2010

Solo exhibitions, Woolff Gallery, London.

2009

Solo exhibition, La Mezz Gallery, New Zealand.

2008

Solo exhibition, Kensington Gallery, London.

2008 and 2007

Solo exhibitions, Gallery27, Cork Street, London.

Selected Group Exhibitions and Art Fairs

From 2024

Ewan Macfarlane Gallery, Woodstock.

2023

Four For Four, Brunswick Gallery, London.

2023

London Calling, Brunswick Gallery, London.

2023 and 2022

The Other Art Fair, London.

2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011

London Art Fair.

2015

SCOPE Miami.

2014, 2013 and 2012

Art Miami.

2014

Shanghai International Art Fair.

2013

Strata, Saatchi Gallery, London.