Portrait of the Artist: Claude Buckley
A look at the South Carolina-based artist and his provocative In America painting series.
Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 12/18/2007
If you've perused the December issue of Interior Design and our best-of-year retrospective, no doubt you recall Icarus, part of the In America series of allegorical paintings by Claude Buckley. Overtly political and decidedly provocative, the works sparked our curiosity about the South Carolina-based artist's background, and in particular, how his perspectives on the world and society find their way onto his canvases. Here, Buckley takes a stab at filling in the blanks as he goes one-on-one with Interior Design. To see more images from the In America series, click to start the slide show above.
Interior Design: When did you become interested in art?
Claude Buckley: I can’t remember not painting. It is a natural thing for me to do. I grew up surrounded by art. We lived in Madrid, a block from the Prado Museum. My parents collected art and artists. We often had famous artists, actors and photographers home for supper. My father Fergus Reid Buckley was in Spain working on his first two novels, Eye of the Hurricane and Servants and Their Masters. He was also writing scripts for Warner Brothers. My mother Betsy worked for Harper’s Bazaar. Sometimes she would take me on their fashion shoots, and I remember watching Bill Kline and Richard Avedon do their thing. She helped fund the Teatro Estudio in Madrid, from which many of Spain’s best actors have sprung. I spent many of my afternoons either at the museum, or back stage at the Teatro Español, while the now-famous director Miguel Narros rehearsed his plays. We are good friends to this day.
ID: How would you describe your technique?
CB: I paint from my point of view. I have spent the last thirty years exploring ways to manipulate color, line and form. I have painted hundreds of landscapes, over two hundred portraits, and many murals depicting all sorts of themes, from historical paintings to religious tableaus. I have learned to express my thoughts in paint. My paintings serve as a bridge between my mind and yours.
Painting is a universal language. I want my viewers to understand what I have to say, without the need of an interpreter. I enjoy that people can relate to my work, no matter where they are from or how much they know about art.
ID: What inspires you?
CB: My inspiration for painting has changed over the years. When I was younger, a splendid landscape, or a sultry woman, would compel me to rush for my brushes. Today, what inspires me the most to create art is my love for my children, Ian and Aidan, and my desire to take care of them using the gifts that God gave me. I want my boys to see that happiness in life is not only accomplishing one’s goals, but what one does in order to achieve them. You have to live your dream.
ID: You grew up in Spain, but you live in South Carolina. How do those very different locales influence your work?
CB: Spain's dramatic landscapes, its long history and the darkness inherent in its temperament are what spurred my love for painting. Gosh, one lives the past there! There's art in every corner. I moved to South Carolina to be close to my family. South Carolina's landscapes are of a more subtle beauty than Spain's. But its history, though not as old, is also rich, and gives the state a very particular sense of identity. Besides, you have to love its people. Folks are nice down here. It is a delightful place to live.
The places where I have lived, and my love for travel, have had a great influence on my work. I have been exposed to many ways of seeing things. I have built strong friendships with some very wealthy people, and many very poor people, in several countries. I have learned that being rich does not guarantee happiness, and that being poor stinks.
ID: Your allegorical paintings are quite vivid, and the political undertones are fairly obvious. What inspired you to create them?
CB: Whereas many in my family write their political thoughts in English, I write mine in paint. I observe a world full of contradictions, where the good and the bad often blend together. The United States is a unique experiment in government, and I worry that we are not living up to the expectations of our founding fathers. Some of the things that we do would make George Washington cry.
The symbols in our currency represent our forefathers' ideals. The dollar is the most recognized non-religious symbol in the world. Juxtaposing the symbols in our currency, with allegorical social commentaries of life in America, I share my take on things, with a wide audience.
Poverty inspired me to create these paintings. Last winter, someone got hold of my debit card, and emptied out my account just before Christmas! I was poor. It made me think of the things I could do if I were rich. I thought that if I had lots of money, I would use it to help people. So, I decided to paint my own money and see what I could do with it. Now I am giving some of it away. And it is helping people. It makes me feel rich.
ID: Tell us how the In America series came about.
CB: A combination of events inspired my In America series. A couple of years ago, [textile heir] Roger Milliken asked me to paint how the middle class is getting poorer while the upper class is getting richer, in context with our turning away from our Hamiltonian principles. Thinking of Hamilton led me to think of money.
Looking for inspiration, I cracked open a fortune cookie. It read, "You have culture, use it." And then it all came together for me. I rushed to the studio and painted National Health Care, a painting depicting a homeless man sitting in a dollar bill. It was how I felt. Then I tackled my experiences in family court (you've got to have a sense of humor). I hope that the message I convey in the paintings is that life is tough, but we have to take it with a grain of salt. It is better to laugh than to cry.
ID: Which are your favorite works from the series?
CB: I am yet to paint my favorite image in this series. The desire to make the next painting better than the last one is what keeps me behind my easel. But I prefer some to others.
Who Wins? depicts two boys flipping a coin, sitting on the back of a ten-dollar bill. The background shows the Federal Reserve, and the legend reads In God We Trust. It is my favorite painting in this series because those are my two boys, Ian and Aidan. In this painting, I portray that our life is made of the choices we make, chances we take, and the decisions made by others.
After Victory shows Lady Victory in mourning, with her sword and the American eagle. She is in mourning because for her to win, others had to loose. It is a commentary of what is going on in the world right now. We are winning a war, but are loosing some personal freedoms. If Men Were Angels is right on the money (pun intended). There is a man falling from a burning ten-dollar bill. The quotation goes, "If men were angels, we would not need government." It is from the Federalist Papers. That particular ten-dollar bill is actually a very rare bill that is worth ten million dollars. Seems like a fair price.
ID: What are you working on right now?
CB: I am presently painting a humorous allegory about the presidential elections. You have to keep your sense of humor. The more I paint in this series, In America, the more ideas come into my head. So, I imagine I will explore where it takes my art. Of course, I am still accepting portrait and mural commissions.
ID: How would you describe the state of art in the United States today?
CB: I would describe the state of art in the United States today as exciting. In the 20th century, we learned to appreciate a myriad of forms of self-expression as works of art. As artists, we are now freer to explore our ideas than ever before.
For more information, go to claudebuckley.com
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