{"id":38904,"date":"2017-04-07T12:36:52","date_gmt":"2017-04-07T18:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=38904"},"modified":"2025-11-10T16:11:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T23:11:44","slug":"matt-clark-navigates-the-dark-nights-of-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/matt-clark-navigates-the-dark-nights-of-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Clark Navigates the Dark Nights of the Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"
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W<\/span>e often conform our lives to the expectations of others: family, medical professionals, religious doctrine, local culture or society as a whole. These choices help us to navigate our path through life and grant us acceptance by our chosen \u201ctribe.\u201d Sometimes, unquestioning conformity is to our detriment, eroding individuality, creativity, and opportunities. When we experience nonconformity, however, whether by choice or otherwise, a sort of social discomfort ensues, as we work to once again find our place in the context of our surroundings. In some circumstances the discomfort is mild, in others, severe. Who or what do we look to in such instances? How do we re-define ourselves when we suddenly find ourselves \u201cdifferent\u201d?<\/h4>\n

For southern Utah artist Matt Clark, found metal sculpture is a metaphorical re-enactment of the process of physical and emotional self-redefinition and, ultimately, transformation.<\/h4>\n

In 1979, 17-year-old Clark was well on his way to actualizing his dream of becoming a champion rodeo cowboy. Supporting his goal with odd jobs, he\u2019d entered and successfully competed in many rodeos, culminating in participation in the National Rodeo Championships his junior year of high school. Then, while repairing his pickup truck, he suffered an accident that would catalyze his transformation. The truck began to roll, with Clark trapped underneath it, dragging him until it eventually stopped in a ditch, pinning his head underneath a front tire.<\/h4>\n

In retrospect, Clark says, the accident should have killed him. Instead, it dislocated his C6 vertebra, paralyzing much of his body, and destroying his rodeo aspirations. Clark was told he\u2019d not only never walk again, but never regain the use of his hands, never live independently, and should plan to live in a rest home so as not to be a burden to his family for the rest of his probably short life.<\/h4>\n

\u201cBeing told that, at 17 years old, was devastating,\u201d Clark remembers. \u201cThe real low point came when the doctors put these splints on my hands and arms, with the idea that they could form my hands into one useful position, so I could maybe swing my upper arm and hook things with my thumb.\u201d Clark lay in the hospital bed, feeling physically and emotionally crushed and helpless, and believing unquestioningly in the doctors\u2019 prognosis.<\/h4>\n
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\u201cI think there are gifts of depression, if we\u2019re willing to navigate that, and walk through that journey\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Clark\u2019s low point was quickly followed by a turning point, however, when his mother, noted southern Utah photographer and historian Lynne Clark, arrived back at his bedside after a few days\u2019 absence and asked about the splints. Matt Clark explained the doctors\u2019 reasoning to her, and she asked, \u201cDoes that sound right to you?\u201d Confused, Clark said, \u201cI guess so\u2026\u201d and repeated the doctor\u2019s words. His mother asked again, \u201cDoes that sound right to\u00a0you<\/em>?\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cNow, you have a cultural mindset you inherit\u2014you don\u2019t really have much choice in it,\u201d Clark says. \u201cI was taught to accept authority, and \u2018Authority\u2019 had just told me I\u2019d never use my hands again.\u201d However, he felt his mother\u2019s repeated inquiry gave him permission to begin to question other people\u2019s assessment of him and his abilities, even authority figures. After a long pause:<\/h4>\n

Clark told his mother, \u201cNo, I guess it doesn\u2019t [sound right].\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cThen, let\u2019s take these off,\u201d she said, and removed the splints.<\/h4>\n

The action instilled a resolve in both Clark and his family to make the most of his condition, despite medical opinion. Their decision was not without criticism.<\/h4>\n

\u201cThey asked me about my plans when I checked out of the hospital. I told them I wanted to go to college, live independently. They said, \u2018That\u2019s been the trouble with you. You don\u2019t accept reality.\u2019 \u201d Instead, doctors repeated that he should accept life at a rest home, where he might live three-four more years.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI thought, boy, if I check into a rest home, I really will live only three years!\u201d Clark recalls.<\/h4>\n

So Clark returned to his family farm in Washington, Utah, where he began to test the limits of his condition. Determined to reclaim his independence, he did a daily regimen of physical therapy, with the aid of his mother and father, eventually gaining some strength and function back in his arms. He learned to push a manual wheelchair, then practiced hoisting himself up into a pickup truck until, after eight months of practice, he was able to do so independently.<\/h4>\n

The next several years were a patchwork of ups and downs that would later find symbolic representation in many of his sculptures, particularly the six-sculpture series \u201cDark Nights of the Soul.\u201d Clark regained his independence, but did not make a complete recovery, which tested his religious faith\u2014Clark is a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \u201cI felt I had faith to be totally healed, and then the healing process plateaued,\u201d he recalls.<\/h4>\n

C\"\"<\/a>ompounding his spiritual trial was the denial of his request to serve a mission for the LDS Church because of his physical limitations.<\/h4>\n

Eventually, Clark graduated college, married, and created and directed a Disabled Students Services program at Dixie State University, creating found metal art along the way as a hobby. \u201cI just had this desire to work with metal. I had started doing repair welding; I fixed buckets for guys with tractors. Then one day I pulled some pieces out of a scrap pile and welded a little dinosaur. And my mom said it was good. It wasn\u2019t; but, you know, everyone starts somewhere.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Clark worked steadily as a self-taught welder and artist to refine his work, enduring criticism for undertaking a physically demanding form of art given his physical limitations. Clark\u2019s studio is an impressive tribute to his ingenuity, from a specially formed hammer he developed that accommodates the limited strength of his hands to a swinging pulley system that allows him to move heavy pieces of metal and sculpture from one end of the studio to the other.<\/h4>\n

Clark is dismissive of his early work, though his original themes of farm life are finding rebirth in his more recent sculptures. He credits Dixie State University Professor Glen Blakely with providing artistic mentorship as he transitioned to creating art full time around 1997. \u201cI was doing these little horseshoe cowboys,\u201d Clark says with a half-smile. \u201cGlen told me I had to \u2018step up my game.\u2019 He said \u2018You\u2019re creating objects, but not creating\u00a0art<\/em>.\u2019\u201d<\/h4>\n

Clark redoubled his efforts, synthesizing styles of David Smith, Julio Gonzalez, Albert Paley. He gained recognition in St. George for a colorful found metal sculpture of a horse titled\u00a0\u201c<\/em>The Painted Pony\u201d<\/em>\u00a0created for a St. George restaurant with the same name.<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>In 2012, Clark presented the series \u201cDark Nights of the Soul.\u201d The largest piece by far, a 14\u2019 metal sculpture titled \u201cCosmic Oddity,\u201d was created using an old World War II sea buoy that Clark suspects had been used by a local farmer as a fuel tank. One can\u2019t help but notice an eerie similarity to Fritz Koenig\u2019s famous sculpture \u201cThe Sphere,\u201d which was damaged in the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, particularly when Clark explains that his battered sphere symbolizes periods of suffering, with the source of suffering represented by a long sharp vertical piece piercing the body of the sphere.<\/h4>\n

\u201cDark Night\u201d is Clark\u2019s visual depiction of emotional depression, which he describes as a tool of the soul with the purpose of \u201chollowing us out, maybe opening us up to something else.\u201d Again, Clark rejects social conformity to the perception of depression, namely that it should be hidden, covered up, abolished.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI think there are gifts of depression, if we\u2019re willing to navigate that, and walk through that journey,\u201d Clark explains on a video recording describing the show. \u201cEarlier cultures built gardens where people could go to meditate when they were in that state.\u201d Exempting clinical depression, he believes that society is often too quick to numb any kind of sadness, and that we can \u201cmiss out on this mysterious element of our souls.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Visually, recent abstractions explore divisions of space and form in fluid, swooping curves. Inspired in part by Asian architecture, these works remain characteristically straightforward, even while the humor and emotional symbolism often included in his work becomes more nuanced.<\/h4>\n
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Currently, Clark has returned to memories of his early life on a cattle ranch in Beryl with a series of metal horses. Uniquely, the horses are posed in relaxed, natural stances. All four hooves resting on the ground, they graze or look up with mild curiosity. This peaceful quality suggests a familiarity born from working with horses as partners, rather than romanticized from over a fence.<\/h4>\n

These horses are more abstracted than the earlier\u00a0\u201c<\/em>Painted Pony,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0with an incorporation of negative space, or \u201cvoids,\u201d as Clark puts it. \u201cWhen you leave things out, whatever is left must make a stronger statement,\u201d Clark says of the process. \u201cYou can see the power of the shoulder, the back, the hip, even if the horse is more abstract. Especially if it is more abstract.\u201d At the same time, he says, his upbringing won\u2019t allow him to take too many liberties with the proportion and form of horses. \u201cI grew up on horses,\u201d he says \u201cAnd the measurements in knowing a good horse\u2026I couldn\u2019t leave that behind.\u201d<\/h4>\n

While Clark acknowledges the horses have a broad appeal, citing wild mustangs as symbols of freedom, for him the horses also represent a huge cultural shift in southern Utah. Originally founded as an agricultural outpost by Brigham Young to supply cotton to the early Mormon settlers of Utah, St. George has since become a burgeoning sub-urban city, with new developments replacing farmland and open spaces between townships at an incredible pace.<\/h4>\n

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\u201c[The horses] are a symbol of what we\u2019re losing in this area,\u201d Clark laments. \u201cThe \u2018ag\u2019 is gone. There are a few hanging on, but\u2026 it\u2019s sad. My roots are based in [agriculture]. And I see it as an overall big-picture problem in America. We don\u2019t provide for ourselves anymore. We\u2019re losing our connection to the land, how resources are developed, where food comes from. The family farm is going extinct. The average age of a family ranch-owner is 68 years old.\u201d<\/h4>\n

A pair of Clark\u2019s horses will be placed near St. George\u2019s \u201cDixie Sunbowl\u201d for the next year as part of the city\u2019s Art Around the Corner 2017 exhibit, due to be installed April 8. Threatened by disrepair and the need for real estate for an elementary school, local officials recently opted to \u201csave\u201d the Sunbowl, a concrete bowl-shaped stadium set into the ground and traditional home for the Dixie Roundup Rodeo, making cosmetic repairs and allowing the venue to become more utilized. Clark is supportive, remarking, \u201cThank goodness we can have something of that heritage left.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Although both the form and the components of the horses are becoming more abstract, Clark\u2019s method, and his overarching reason for found metal sculpture, remains the same.<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cEvery piece of metal in these sculptures is a throwaway piece,\u201d Clark explains. \u201cIt\u2019s a spiritual journey for me\u2014to take these pieces of metal that were \u2018doomed,\u2019 were used up in some way, and make something new from them. We\u2019re surrounded by terrible consumerism in society. I reject that. I like to see possibilities in these pieces. Subject is always secondary to the process.\u201d<\/h4>\n

The idea of second chances is one Clark believes should be extended to humanity in general. \u201cI\u2019ve never been much about political views: I\u2019m more focused on an individual, spiritual journey. I think we should do what we can to give people an\u00a0opportunity<\/em>.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Speaking from experience, more than a few artists have benefited from his good-natured willingness to see others succeed. For years, Clark aided Art Around the Corner in installing metal sculptures in various locations downtown, even supplying metal plates to artists who had arrived without. He is known for being generous and supportive. \u201cComes from farming,\u201d Clark says offhandedly. \u201cIf the neighbors had a cow that was bloated and they called at 2 a.m. needing help, my dad would always pitch in. You just have to jump in and get stuff done.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Matt Clark\u2019s artist statement boldly declares \u201cMy body has been broken and may not heal, but my spirit can and will transcend my limitations.\u201d When asked the hard question of where he is in that process, Clark kicks a cowboy-booted toe into the ground and chuckles. \u201cI\u2019m still transitioning. I\u2019m still making that change.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We often conform our lives to the expectations of others: family, medical professionals, religious doctrine, local culture or society as a whole. These choices help us to navigate our path through life and grant us acceptance by our chosen \u201ctribe.\u201d Sometimes, unquestioning conformity is to our detriment, eroding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1537,"featured_media":38905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,14],"tags":[3245],"class_list":["post-38904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artist_profiles","category-visual_arts","tag-matt-clark"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/matt_clark-930x630.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-23 21:58:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38904"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98371,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38904\/revisions\/98371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}