Journey by Dots opens 8th of April until the 26th June 2022 and represents Clarke Reynolds most ambitious collection of work to date in the artist’s first solo exhibition at a major gallery. As a child in the 1980s, Reynolds remembers first visiting Aspex at its original location in Art Space Portsmouth on Brougham Road, for a school trip with Cottage Grove School. In the years that followed he would return to Aspex on a number of occasions, whilst his brother played in the neighbouring playground, he thoroughly enjoyed his art and it’s these visits that Reynolds says changed his life. He said “Aspex saved my life. It truly has. I don’t think people realise, in my estate, 80% of people who grew up there are addicts, in jail or dead. I am not one of them. What more can you say? Art is my light as my world is getting darker."
Now coming full circle the visually impaired artist has created a body of work, which takes us on a journey through his life so far and shares his hopes and dreams for the future. Reynolds lost the sight in his right eye at six years old and was later diagnosed with the degenerative condition Retinitis Pigmentosa. Navigating the world with a deteriorating vision, he left his job as a professional model maker and made the surprising choice to pursue a career as a visual artist. He has since become one of the most prolific artists in the city, working with schools, community groups and partners across Portsmouth including Victorious Festival and Portsmouth Creates.
Reynolds aims for his work to be educational and tactile – actively encouraging people to touch his art. In Journey by Dots Reynolds uses his distinctive style of colourful braille lettering to map out three significant routes on his journey to becoming an artist – visiting Aspex as a child, travelling to University to train in model making, and returning to the gallery on the bus from Leigh Park as an adult. The show also reveals Reynolds’ infectious energy and ambition through a collection of prophesying tactile paving slabs; predicting Clarke’s future achievements of winning the Turner Prize and appearing on Strictly Come Dancing!
The opening of Journey by Dots marks a new programme of events and exhibitions at Aspex. The spring season also includes I Read the Wind (6 April – 3 July 2022), an exhibition of ceramic poems in the gallery’s Craft Space by Kaori Miyachi Sogabe and Hidekazu A-wa Sogabe of Studio Potapota. Both Reynolds and Studio Potapota have benefitted from the support of charity Outside In, which provide platforms for artists facing significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance or isolation, and whose vital work Aspex wishes to highlight this season. Journey by Dots has been kindly supported by Colas.
You can listen to the heartwarming podcast with Clarke which is number 45 now by clicking on any major podcast channel.
Find out more about the exhibition below.