REVELATIONS RITUALS. A Celebration of Platinum - YES, EYE AM, 75!
 
"Clarke's paintings are dominated by (i) the symbolism of the Life Force, (ii) the mask of the female face and (ii) the blankness and the nothingness of the open space in monochrome, which art critics hold give eloquence to the feeling of awe, the sublime oceanic phenomenon for which the later Abstract Expressionists were 'fiercely searching and which they reduced eventually to the concept of Style. Let it be noted that 'peak experiences' are unique and individual, never shared. In fact, some personalities are non-responsive to such mind-states. According to the poet, "The page saw all/ and the knight saw none. Collectively symbolised in the masks, they assure the living mortal community that they will intervene on their behalf with the Supreme God and assure them and their families plenty in harvest, long life, and health and prosperity. The Earth mother whose face dominates Clarke's art, in its sheer multitude-in-symbol represents the omnipresence in Clarke's world view of the life-giving force of the female, the source of fecundity and vitality and the carrier of Cosmic life in which all mortals share. The principle of Oneness, implied in the idea of Mother Earth, also signifies the interrelationship of all human beings in the World Community, which can never be dissolved; though we may artificially divide it up with artificial boundaries of race and ethnicity." (from Dr. J.D. Elder's "Towards a Caribbean Aesthetics")

 
Like Yeates' gyres theory of history and culture, Clarke's theory is couched in poetic terms. The position of perpendicularity with the body at 90 degrees to the earth 'uses the whole body as an instrument of elevation. The terminology is simultaneously, scientific and spiritual. Obviously in the erect position of the body, the head is fully exposed to the sun and the energy of pure light, "it becomes invisible! Man moves from 'de zones of defeat (de feet)' to achieve enlightenment. This represents both the self-journey of the artist and the vision he provides for his people: "The artist becomes the catalyst for the private energies of his society. Verily, as harbinger and avatar I'm presenting my country with a supreme symbol of endearment, that of El Tucuche: Arriving at the liberation of the heights of El Tucuche, De Poet glimpsed the Godhead and saw his own perfection, saw God in himself and himself in God!" (from Simon Lee's Mental Archeology of the Psyche)
 
"LeRoy Clarke is at us again. In a time when there is a proliferation of architecture of blunders, in all realms, in this place with its prosperous puerility, he says: 'Eye (re)present a consciousness of upliftment. Clarke like Plato 'is nothing if not a moralist, anxious to halt the decadence of a people' In his determined effort of nearly four decades the artist claims to 'have cast off these geographies/and enter (the) centre again/ up and down lone rivers/toward the solitary summits of the ancients." (from Caroline Ravello's "Giving Ideas 'Breath, Eyes, Memory")