Award winning contemporary artist, Clinton Deckert is renowned for his paintings where abstract thoughts and surreal imagery collide. Deckert has multiple works represented in the Jack and Susan Austin Warner Collection in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He has twice been awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship Grant from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, Conncecticut. Recently Deckert served at Curator and participating artist in the celebrated "Beyond The Gate" invitational exhibition at Artspace Hartford, CT. and exhibited his 25 Year Retrospctive at Partis In Plantsville, CT. Deckert is past president of Artworks Gallery in Hartford Connecticut and served on their Board of Directors for fourteen years. He created an assemblage for the Gala Salvador Dali event at the Wadsworth Atheneum and his work has also hung along side, Picasso, Bellmer, Dali, DeChirico, and Bellmer. He has also exhibited at the Senator’s Connecticut Office of the U.S. Senate and at the Steven's Gallery at the University of Connecticut. He has painted a fourteen-foot long wall mural for the UConn Tri-Campus Psychology Department in West Hartford. In New York Deckert has shown in the famous but now defunct Monique Goldstrom Gallery and exhibited in the "Brave Destiny" International Surrealist Exhibition at the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center in Brooklyn. His work has been featured on the cover of Art Calendar/Professional Artist Magazine, Hartford Magazine and he has achieved inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who in American Art. Clint’s paintings have been represented in ten juried shows at the New Britain Museum of American Art and once at Slater Memorial Museum in Norwich, CT. He has apperared on television , radio and has conducted numerous Artist presentation lectures throughout Connecticut including Connecticut Art Education Association and The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. He has also served as Judge/Juror for several regional exhibitions. Deckert’s work has been favorably reviewed numerous times in Art New England, The Hartford Courantt, The Hartford Advocate ,The Journal Inquirer and has twice appeared in The New York Times. Deckert‘s work is in numerous collections throughout the U.S.A. and he continuously exhibits throughout the Northeast, USA. Clint's work is represented by Paris In Plantsville, CT, Lotus Fine Art, Woodstock, NY and by Sam Heller Fine Art Chicago.
Comments from Critics, Jurors and Directors
"His paintings are rendered without the hindrance of logic and their appeal comes from the eerie ambience of unique imagery capturing a timeless quality. Deckert seems keenly aware of the absurdities underlying the very concept of life." Jude Schwendenwien, Art New England, 1991"
If the gallrey installation is anything like Deckert's home, it will resemble a mid-air collision between Joseph Cornell and Salvador Dali. Every corner conatins evidence of a torrential talent and an offbeat vision. Alan Bisbort, Hatford Advocate, (in reference to studio visit prior to the 25 Year Retrospective at Paris In Plantsvile,) 2012.
"Deckert's work demands your attention, harmoniously through layers of often intense, yet subtle color balance, vigorous and various techniques that bridge the gap of what was, what can be, and what should be in the world that his work portrays. While in the gallery, his work pulsated with power as one, but when broken down piece by piece, they each tell a separate and timeless story. Clinton's work lives up to it's storied and seemingly legendary following... It's as if the gallery walls have quieted themselves to take a deep breath since the show has come to an end. Deckert has set the bar very high for the future shows in my gallery." Sean Michanczyk, Owner of Paris in Plantsville, 15 W. Main Street, Plantsville, CT, 2011
"Clint probably had some set of circumstances which can best be described as surreal at birth. He IS a modern surrealist with an uncanny ability to paint so realistically, that some of his 'mythical creatures' seem to be marching off the canvas. His work captivates the viewer. I've watched delighted onlookers as they slow down and take time to converse and interpret what they see in his work. His show was by far the most successful we've ever had here in the gallery. His art creates collectors which are die hard FANS!" Michelle L. White, White Space Gallery, New Haven, CT 2008
“Deckert’s riotous conjurings are dazzling, ingenious, provocative and injected with a sense of fun." Steve Starger, Journal Inquirer Art New England, 1997
The vacillating between the real and unreal world of Clint Deckert's work beguiles one's imagination and leaves the viewer with a sense of a pleasurable journey.” Jack Lardis, President of Oil Drum Art, 2005
"Deckert takes it all on - color compatibility, canvas structure, field depth, compositional nesting, classic themes and commentary. Even given day to reflect ... it is doubtful that I would be able to get to the root of the image." Leah Lopez Schmalz, Guilford Courier, 2007
"Clinton Deckert has created with and entered with mind a world of color and zaniness found just over a forbidden, towering wall." Stewart Wilson, Executive Director of Artwell, 2003
"Deckert challenges us to step beyond our assumption and expectations of what is a familiar to a fresh look at associations, redefining and ultimately expanding our sense of what makes things real." Mary Kramer, Director of the Promenade Gallery at the Bushnell 1994
