Michael Vinson Clark

Michael Vinson Clark, born on November 20, 1946, in Austin, Texas, grew up amid the vibrant cultural shifts of mid-century America before relocating to Washington, D.C., in the 1960s. There, he immersed himself in the local art scene, studying with Japanese printmaker Unichi Hiratsuka in the early 1960s and attending the Pratt Institute briefly before graduating from the Corcoran School of Art. As a fresh Corcoran alumnus, Clark collaborated closely with Washington Color School luminaries, reproducing fifty copies of Gene Davis's iconic *Popsicle* for a 1969 promotional giveaway and painting on projects alongside Davis and Thomas Downing. These experiences rooted him in the color field tradition while sparking his interest in figurative pop art.

Clark's oeuvre synthesizes these influences into a distinctive modernist style, blending bold color fields with minimalist architecture and satirical pop imagery. In the late 1960s, he created works like *The Three Crosses* (1968), now in the Kreeger Museum's permanent collection, before launching his seminal window series in the 1970s—hundreds of paintings, drawings, and prints depicting urban fenestration from Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and Paris. Key examples include *Windows* (1970, graphite on paper, National Gallery of Art) and *Three Buildings—21 Windows* (1979, acrylic on canvas). He worked at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and helped establish the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Washington, founding the Clark & Co. gallery in 1991, which evolved into a nonprofit showcasing boundary-pushing local talent.

To honor his Powhatan and Cherokee ancestry and distinguish himself from other Michael Clarks, he adopted the name Clark V. Fox, continuing to probe consumerist culture through ironic icons like Mr. Peanut and Situationist-inspired critiques, as in the *Corpocracy* exhibition (2016, Station Museum of Contemporary Art) featuring *Das Kapital* (2016). Now based in New York City, Fox's legacy endures in prestigious collections—the Smithsonian American Art Museum (*Classic Windows: Washington I*), Metropolitan Museum of Art (*Old Post Office Windows*, 1983 silkscreen), National Gallery of Art (portraits like *Collected Collector (Portrait of Herb)*, ca. 1983), Whitney Museum, and Delaware Art Museum—cementing his role as a bridge between Washington Color abstraction and pop provocation.