Professor John Clark
People_

Professor John Clark

FAHA, CIHA, PhD
Emeritus Professor
Discipline of Art History
Address
A26 - R.C. Mills Building
The University of Sydney
Details
  • Modern Japanese Art since Meiji
  • Chinese academic painting and the avant-garde
  • The problems of modernity in art beyond Euramerica
  • Art in China and Thailand of the 1980s and 1990s
  • Biennales and contemporary Asian art
  • Re-defining 'The Asian Modern'
  • Japanese Arts and Globalizations, University of California Los Angeles, since 2008
  • Asian Art Archives, Hong Kong, since 2002
  • Yishu: Chinese Contemporary Art, since 2001
  • The Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, since 1997
  • East Asian History, Australian, National University, since 1991
  • Best Art Book Prize for Asian Modernities: Chinese and Thai Art Compared, 1980 to 1999, Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, 2011
  • Australian Centenary Medal, 2003
  • CIHA [Comité internationale de l'histoire d'art, membre supplémentaire] 2003
  • FAHA [Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities] 2001

Publications

Books

  • Clark, J. (2025). Contemporary Asian Art at Biennials (forthcoming). Singapore: NUS Press Pte Ltd. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2021). The Asian Modern. Singapore: National Gallery Singapore. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2013). Modernities of Japanese Art. Leiden: Brill. [More Information]

Edited Books

  • Clark, J., Peleggi, M., Sabapathy, T. (2006). Eye of the beholder: reception, audience, and practice of modern Asian art. Sydney: Wild Peony.

Book Chapters

  • Clark, J. (2022). Taking pleasure and consolation in a community of disparate but linked souls. In Kon Gouriotis, Erin McFadyen and Melissa Pesa (Eds.), Khaled Sabsabi, (pp. 82-97). Alexandria, NSW, Australia: Bandicoot Publishing Pty Ltd.
  • Clark, J. (2021). Las Bienales Asiaticas Contemporaneas: Algunas Conclusiones. In Danne Ojeda and Ruben de la Nuez (Eds.), Trazos discontinuos. Antologia critica sobre las bienales de arte en Asia Pacifico, (pp. 197-223). Leiden: Almenara.
  • Clark, J. (2021). New approaches to Asian modernity. In Helen Westgeest and Kitty Zijlmans (Eds.), Mix & Stir: New Outlooks on Contemporary Art from Global Perspectives, (pp. 165-171). Amsterdam: Valiz.

Journals

  • Clark, J. (2025). Defan doesn't recall: an interpretive essay (forthcoming). Journal of The Siam Society, 113.
  • Clark, J. (2024). Caroline Ha Thuc, Research-Based Art Practices in Southeast Asia: The Artist as Producer of Knowledge. Journal of The Siam Society, 112(2), 222-227. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2022). Review: 'Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat' by Veeraporn Nitiprapha. Journal of The Siam Society, 110(2), 121-127.

Conferences

  • Clark, J. (2018). The archive in time, temporal processes in the history of the Asian modern. Archival Turn: East Asian Contemporary Art and Taiwan (1960-1989), Taipei, Taiwan: Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
  • Clark, J. (2010). Japanese Contemporary Art and Globalization: Largely Seen from Participation in the Venice Biennale. International Symposium: Globalization, localization, and Japanese studies in the Asia-Pacific region, Kyoto, Japan: International Research Center for Japanese Studies.
  • Clark, J. (2009). Beyond the National, inside the Global: New Identity Strategies in Asian Art in the Twenty-First Century. 32nd International Congress in the History of Art 2008, Australia: The Miegunyah Press.

Textual Creative Works

  • Clark, J. (2019). Around the sides of the modern. Life Pilgrimages, (pp. 198 - 202). Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR of China): brownie publishing.
  • Clark, J. (2019). Meanwhile, snapshots across the river. 1st Bangkok Art Biennale 'Beyond Bliss' 2018, (pp. 412 - 417). Bangkok, Thailand: Bangkok Art Biennale.
  • Clark, J. (2019). Park Seo-Bo in Historical and Comparative Perspective. Park Seo-Bo: The Untiring Endeavorer, (pp. 91 - 112). Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South): National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, South Korea).

Exhibitions / Events

  • Clark, J., Veal, C. (2014). Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook: Storytellers of the Town. 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art; ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Sydney, Australia: 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.

Magazine / Newspaper Articles

  • Clark, J. (2003). The charm of Foreign parts. Asian Art Archive Newsletter.

Reference Works

  • Clark, J. (2010). Wirgman, Charles. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Clark, J. (2005). Asian Modern and Contemporary Art. Oxford Art Online; Groove Art Online. (pp. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/). online search engine: Oxford University Press.

Other

  • Clark, J., Sabapathy, T. (2021), The Asian Modern: John Clark in Conversation with T.K. Sabapathy. Conversation. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2011), Modern and Contemporary Asian Art: A Working Bibliography. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2008), Modern Asian art: the contemporary as a site in the absence of history.

2025

  • Clark, J. (2025). Contemporary Asian Art at Biennials (forthcoming). Singapore: NUS Press Pte Ltd. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2025). Defan doesn't recall: an interpretive essay (forthcoming). Journal of The Siam Society, 113.

2024

  • Clark, J. (2024). Caroline Ha Thuc, Research-Based Art Practices in Southeast Asia: The Artist as Producer of Knowledge. Journal of The Siam Society, 112(2), 222-227. [More Information]

2022

  • Clark, J. (2022). Review: 'Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat' by Veeraporn Nitiprapha. Journal of The Siam Society, 110(2), 121-127.
  • Clark, J. (2022). Taking pleasure and consolation in a community of disparate but linked souls. In Kon Gouriotis, Erin McFadyen and Melissa Pesa (Eds.), Khaled Sabsabi, (pp. 82-97). Alexandria, NSW, Australia: Bandicoot Publishing Pty Ltd.

2021

  • Clark, J., Suwannakudt, P. (2021). A History of Phaiboon Suwannakudt (1925-1982). Journal of The Siam Society, 109(1), 1-36.
  • Clark, J. (2021). Las Bienales Asiaticas Contemporaneas: Algunas Conclusiones. In Danne Ojeda and Ruben de la Nuez (Eds.), Trazos discontinuos. Antologia critica sobre las bienales de arte en Asia Pacifico, (pp. 197-223). Leiden: Almenara.
  • Clark, J. (2021). New approaches to Asian modernity. In Helen Westgeest and Kitty Zijlmans (Eds.), Mix & Stir: New Outlooks on Contemporary Art from Global Perspectives, (pp. 165-171). Amsterdam: Valiz.

2020

  • Clark, J. (2020). 'Tradition' in Thai Modern Art. Southeast of Now: Directions in Contemporary and Modern Art in Asia, 4(2), 39-89. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2020). A Thai Novel: From the Inside? On Veeraporn Nitiprapha, 'The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth', 2013, translation 2018. Journal of The Siam Society, 108(1), 25-38. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2020). Behind the Painting: Xu Bing's Hybrid Landscapes. In Sarah E. Fraser and Yu-Chieh Li (Eds.), Xu Bing: Beyond the Book from the Sky, (pp. 109-114). Singapore: Springer. [More Information]

2019

  • Clark, J. (2019). Around the sides of the modern. Life Pilgrimages, (pp. 198 - 202). Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR of China): brownie publishing.
  • Clark, J. (2019). Meanwhile, snapshots across the river. 1st Bangkok Art Biennale 'Beyond Bliss' 2018, (pp. 412 - 417). Bangkok, Thailand: Bangkok Art Biennale.
  • Clark, J. (2019). Park Seo-Bo in Historical and Comparative Perspective. Park Seo-Bo: The Untiring Endeavorer, (pp. 91 - 112). Seoul, Korea, Republic of (South): National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, South Korea).

2018

  • Clark, J. (2018). A Personal Poetics: Latiff Mohidin and his Pago Pago series. In Shabbir Hussain Mustafa and Catherine David (Eds.), Latiff Mohidin: Pago Pago (1960-1969), (pp. 198-210). Singapore: National Gallery Singapore.
  • Clark, J. (2018). Contemporary Art and the Contemporary Art Museum: Shanghai and Its Biennale. Yishu: A journal of Chinese Contemporary Art, 17(1), 8-29.
  • Clark, J. (2018). Japanese Modern and Contemporary Art: An Art-Historical Field. Art History, 41(4), 596-791. [More Information]

2017

  • Clark, J. (2017). Colonial Art as a Space of the Asian Modern. In Low Sze Wee, Patrick D Flores (Eds.), Charting Thoughts: Essays on Art in Southeast Asia, (pp. 44-59). Singapore: National Gallery Singapore.
  • Clark, J. (2017). Jun T. Lai in the 1980s and 1990s. Jun T. Lai: Wonderland, (pp. 36 - 39). Taichung, Taiwan: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts.
  • Clark, J. (2017). Modern Art in Southeast Asia [reprint]. In Furuich Yasuko (Eds.), The Japan Foundation Asia Center Art Studies. Volume 3: Shaping the History of Art in Southeast Asia, (pp. 20-23). Tokyo: The Japan Foundation.

2016

  • Clark, J. (2016). Asian Art History in Australia: Its Functions and Audience. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 16(2), 202-217. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2016). Building a Collection: Chinese Prints at the University of Sydney. In Stephen Whiteman, Minerva Inwald, Bingqing Wei, John Clark (Eds.), Floating Time: Chinese Prints, 1954-2002, (pp. 25-35). Sydney: Power Publications.
  • Clark, J. (2016). John Young: Painting Simulacra and a Re-envisaged History. In Wu Hung (Eds.), Zhang Dali: Permanence and Impermanence, (pp. 134-151). Beijing: China Nationality Art Photograph Publishing House.

2015

  • Clark, J. (2015). Canon-Making and Curating in Recent Asian Art. Journal of Fine Arts, 2(2), 33-93.
  • Clark, J. (2015). Moral Tales, Now with Humor and Maybe Redemption. In A. Bergmann, S-L Hertel, J. Noth, A. Papist-Matsuo, W. Schrape (Eds.), Elegant Gathering in a Scholar's Garden: Studies in East Asian Art in Honor of Jeong-hee Lee-Kalisch, (pp. 287-291). Wiemar: Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften.
  • Clark, J., Chen, W. (2015). Questions of Contemporary Discourse and Its Development in the Work of Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook. Xiandai Meishu, 176, 35-47. [More Information]

2014

  • Clark, J. (2014). [Book Review] '"Avant-Garde" Art Groups in China, 1979–1989: The Stars - The Northern Art Group - The Pond Association - Xiamen Dada: A Critical Polylogue' by Paul Gladston. The China Journal, 72, 223-225.
  • Clark, J. (2014). Alms to Stray Dogs and Other Stories: Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook in Conversation with John Clark. Art Monthly Australia, 268, 34-41.
  • Clark, J., Veal, C. (2014). Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook: Storytellers of the Town. 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art; ANU Drill Hall Gallery, Sydney, Australia: 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art.

2013

  • Clark, J. (2013). [Book review] Hans Belting, 'Florence and Baghdad: Renaissance Art and Arab Science'. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 13, 185-189.
  • Clark, J. (2013). Asian Artists as Long-Distance Cultural Specialists in the Formation of Modernities. In Fuyubi Nakamura, Morgan Perkins, Olivier Krischer (Eds.), Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation Across Borders, (pp. 19-32). London: Bloomsbury Academic, imprint of Bloomsbury. [More Information]
  • Clark, J. (2013). Here we go Asian again. ORIENTing: Ian Fairweather in Western Australian Collections and With or Without You, (pp. 45 - 48). Perth, Australia: Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

2012

  • Clark, J. (2012). Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art: Main Issues. In Birgit Hopfener, Franziska Koch, Jeong-hee Lee-Kalisch, Juliane Noth (Eds.), Negotiating Difference: Contemporary Chinese Art in the Global Context, (pp. 33-47). Weimar: VDG Weimar.
  • Clark, J. (2012). Okakura Tenshin and Aesthetic Nationalism. In Rimer, J. Thomas (Eds.), Since Meiji: Perspectives on the Japanese Visual Arts, 1868-2000, (pp. 212-256). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  • Clark, J. (2012). The Southeast Asian Modern: Three Artists. In Nora A. Taylor, Boreth Ly (Eds.), Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asian Art: An Anthology, (pp. 15-32). New York, United States: Cornell University Press.

2011

  • Clark, J. (2011). 'Asian Art' and Australia. In Anderson, Jaynie (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Australian Art, (pp. 217-230). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Clark, J. (2011). An "Australian" creative space: where is Australian-Asian Art now? Contemporary Visual Art + Culture: Broadsheet, 40(2), 90-95.
  • Clark, J. (2011). Charusu Waaguman, saikô. Kindai Gasetsu, 20(4), 12-35.

2010

  • Clark, J. (2010). [Book review] Art in China 2/e, Oxford University Press, edited by C. Clunas. Asian Art News, 20(2), 100-100.
  • Clark, J. (2010). A distant view. In James Elkins, Zhivka Valiavicharska and Alice Kim (Eds.), Art and globalization, (pp. 181-182). University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
  • Clark, J. (2010). Art in Beijing 1981 & 1990. In John A Clark (Eds.), Modernities of Chinese Art, (pp. 19-27). Leiden: Brill.

2009

  • Clark, J. (2009). Beyond the National, inside the Global: New Identity Strategies in Asian Art in the Twenty-First Century. 32nd International Congress in the History of Art 2008, Australia: The Miegunyah Press.
  • Clark, J. (2009). Margo Machida, Unsettled Visions: Contemporary Asian American artists and the social imaginary. Asian Art News, 19(6), 120.
  • Clark, J. (2009). Political expression and the recent Chinese landscape painting of Ding Fang. emaj: electronic Melbourne art journal, 4, 1-23.

2008

  • Clark, J. (2008), Modern Asian art: the contemporary as a site in the absence of history.
  • Clark, J. (2008). Modernities in art: how are they "other"? In Kitty Zijlmans and Wilfried van Damme (Eds.), World art studies: exploring concepts and approaches, (pp. 401-418). Amsterdam: Valiz.
  • Jones, C., Clark, J. (2008). Nationalism and Internationalism in Modern Art. In Sarvepalli Gopal, Sergei L.Tikhvinsky (Eds.), History of Humanity: Scientific and Cultural Developement: Volume VII The Twentieth Century, (pp. 408-446). Paris, France: UNESCO Publishing.

2007

  • Clark, J. (2007). Art In The Present Tense. Asian Art News 17(6), (pp. 110 - 117). Hong Kong, Afghanistan: Asian Art Press.
  • Clark, J., McCallum, P., Maxwell, I. (2007). Australian Arts: Where the Bloody Hell Are You? Australian Arts in an International Context: Proceedings of a Symposium held at University of Sydney on 8 December 2006. Australian Arts in an International Context: Symposium held at University of Sydney, Sydney: Sydney University Press.
  • Clark, J. (2007). Beyond Euramerica. In Peter Weibel/Andrea Buddensieg (Eds.), Contemporary art and the museum: a global perspective, (pp. 66-78). Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz Verlag.

2006

  • Clark, J. (2006). A narrowing of horizons: The Shanghai and Gwangju Biennales 2006. Art Monthly Australia, 196, (pp. 50 - 55). Acton, ACT, Australia: Art Monthly Australia.
  • Clark, J. (2006). A spectacle of questions. Asian Art News, 16, (pp. 68 - 72). Hong Kong, Hong Kong (SAR of China): Asian Art News.
  • Clark, J. (2006). An Australian Creative Space: Where is Australian-Asian art now? In Charles Green (Eds.), 2006 /contemporary commonwealth/, (pp. 26-35). Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria.

2005

  • Clark, J. (2005). A Short review of a Very, Very Long Book. Yishu: A journal of Chinese Contemporary Art, 4(4), 107-107.
  • Clark, J. (2005). Asian Modern and Contemporary Art. Oxford Art Online; Groove Art Online. (pp. http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/). online search engine: Oxford University Press.
  • Clark, J. (2005). Between the worlds: Chinese Art at Biennials since 1993. Yishu, (pp. 40 - 55). Taipei, Taiwan: Art & Collection Group.

2004

  • Clark, J. (2004). Chinese And Thai Art Of The 1980S And 1990S. Beijing Forum. University of Melbourne.
  • Clark, J. (2004). Chinese Artists In France. In Francis Alys, Gerardo Mosquera, Jean Fisher (Eds.), Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture, (pp. 210-233). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
  • Clark, J. (2004). Food Stories. Gastronomica, 4 Spring(2), 43-50.

2003

  • Clark, J. (2003). Ajia Bijutsui no Gendaisei ni tsuite (On the Modernity of Asian Art). Gengo Bunka, No.20, Japan: Doshisha Daigaku Gengo Bunka Gakkai.
  • Clark, J. (2003). alors, la chine? Artlink, 23, (pp. 68 - 71). Adelaide, Australia: Artlink Australia.
  • Clark, J. (2003). Art Basel. Art Asia Pacific: today's art from tomorrow's world, 38, (pp. 48 - 49). United States of America: Art Asia Pacific Publishing, Llc..

2002

  • Clark, J. (2002). Asian Modernisms. Marg, , 102-111.
  • Clark, J. (2002). Review: Contemporary Korean Cinema. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 5(2), 242-243.
  • Clark, J. (2002). System and Style in the practice of Chinese contemporary art : the disappearing exterior? Yishu: A journal of Chinese Contemporary Art, , 13-33.

2001

  • Clark, J. (2001). Japanese Exchanges in Art 1850s To 1930s: With Britain, Continental Europe, and the USA. Australia: Power Publications.
  • Clark, J. (2001). Review: Asian Artists at the 2001 Venice Biennale. IIAS Newsletter, 26(November).

Selected Grants

2014

  • Shaping Indonesian Contemporary Art: the role of institutions, Vickers A, Clark J, Hujatnika A, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)

2012

  • The histories of modern art in South East Asia, Ledbury A, Berghuis T, Whiteman S, Clark J, Vickers A, Getty Foundation (USA)/Research Support