The New World is a collection of over 100 drawings, collages and paintings completed during the fall of 2011 and the winter of 2012. The images draw upon Clarkson’s obsession with the rise of neo-conservatism and the invisibility of ideology in modern North America. The work is also deeply personal, revealing his own experiences as a catholic altar boy, Boy Scout, and as a groomed target of sexual molestation by authority figures within those organizations.
Clarkson has assembled these drawings into a great line of images, ranging from humorous to disturbing. The series is an attempt to order the world and to rally against the authority of reality, and the growing authoritarian philosophy of North America. Clarkson’s New World is a grand northern Ontario forest, populated by distance runners, paramilitary werewolves and seemingly innocent Boy Scouts, all at odds with one another.
Clarkson’s practice involves photography, collage, drawing, painting, performance, architecture, digital art, illustration and is now expanding into sculptural and video art. He has exhibited internationally, with shows in the UK, the United Stated, Australia, and across Canada. His work is also included in numerous private collections. In 2011, he attended the Banff Centre for the Arts and was nominated for a Winnipeg mayoral award for his continued excellence in the field of fine arts. His illustrations are regularly published in Canadian Dimensions, The Globe and Mail and The Walrus.