JIMMY S. CLARK JR.

Artist & Author

THE ARTIST

Experience becomes
expression.

Jimmy S. Clark Jr.

Jimmy S. Clark Jr. is a contemporary abstract and landscape painter whose work explores the emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of human experience. Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, he builds richly layered surfaces of vibrant color and gestural texture—paintings shaped by U.S. military service, global travel, and immersion in diverse cultural environments. Born in Louisiana and now based in Palm Coast, Florida, Clark transforms personal history and geographic memory into an expressive visual language that is both intuitive and deeply felt.

His canvases oscillate between spontaneity and structure, holding in tension the competing forces of chaos and order—a duality that mirrors the complexity of lived experience. His broad, fearless palette functions as an instrument of meaning: color is communication, charged with emotional resonance that exceeds the reach of language.

Clark’s work has been featured in Spotlight Contemporary Art Magazine and Artguide Magazine. His recognition includes the International Prize PHOENIX for the Arts, the Masterful Mind Award—Artist of the Year from the Circle Foundation for the Arts (2024), the Art Collectors Choice Award (Second Place Tie, 2024), and the Premier Artist Prize 2025 from Contemporary Art Station. In 2023, he participated in ARTBOX.PROJECT during Art Basel Art Weeks Miami.

Beyond his studio practice, Clark is a published author who has documented his evolving work through three monographs and digital platforms including YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. He holds a Master of Science in Human Resource Management from Webster University and a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Newman University. His creative philosophy echoes Albert Einstein: “Creativity is contagious, pass it on.”

ARTIST STATEMENT · IN MY OWN WORDS

“Color is my
primary language.”

I paint because there are things I cannot say any other way.

For most of my adult life, I served—in the military, in public service, in the structured world of duty and discipline. Those years gave me extraordinary gifts: I saw the world, I encountered its beauty and its harshness, I learned the value of perseverance. But they also left something accumulating inside me—a reservoir of color, feeling, and unspoken experience that needed a different kind of release.

When I returned to the canvas, it was not a choice. It was a reckoning. The paintings had been waiting.

Abstract work allows me to bypass the literal and reach for the essential. I do not set out to paint a place or an object or an emotion—I set out to be honest. I let the brush follow what is true, and what emerges is always a surprise.

Color is my primary language. Every hue carries emotional information. A red can be rage or joy or love depending on what sits beside it. I am always listening to what the colors say to each other.

My faith is the foundation beneath everything. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” is not a decoration on my life—it is the architecture of it.

Creativity is contagious. Every painting I make is an act of passing something on—a feeling, a question, an opening. When you stand before my work, I am not asking you to understand it. I am asking you to feel it.

Bring your own life to the canvas. What you find there is yours.

A CREATIVE LIFE

Recognition & community

Selected honors
  • International Prize PHOENIX for the Arts, 2024
  • Masterful Mind Award, Artist of the Year — Circle Foundation for the Arts, “Chromatic Symphony,” 2024
  • The Premier Artist Prize — Contemporary Art Station, 2025
  • Art Collectors Choice Award — Abstract, Second Place Tie, “Cloudy With A Chance of Tomorrow,” 2024
  • World Arts Awards — Naïve Art–Other, Fifth Place, “Wetland,” 2024

Selected exhibitions

  • 2026 · JUNE–AUGUSTStarry Night Gallery

    Daytona Beach, Florida · Pure Freedom: No Rules; Red, White & Blue; Heat & Harmony: Radiant Balance.

  • 2024 · MARCH 7–30Annual Spring Members Show

    St. Augustine Art Association · St. Augustine, Florida.

  • 2023 · DECEMBER 6–10ARTBOX.PROJECT

    Art Basel Art Weeks Miami.

Professional affiliations

  • International Association of Visual Artists (IAVA)
  • National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic
  • Black Art in America
  • St. Augustine Art Association
  • National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS)