Art-o-mat creator traces his artistic evolution in new exhibit

Beginning in the late 90s, following anti-smoking regulations, cigarette machines around the country were decommissioned and prepared for the scrap yard. Winston-Salem-based conceptual artist Clark Whittington began acquiring many of them, refurbishing and loading each with tiny local artworks for sale. He exhibited his first back in 1997, and today they can be found all over the world.

A newly opened exhibit at Delurk Gallery in Winston-Salem provides a prequel to the art and ideas behind Art-o-mat. Cold Clip - Instant Photography - Moments In Time is Whittington's first solo show in nearly three decades. He says his early work was influenced by earth artists like Robert Smithson, as well as Robert Rauschenberg, who incorporated everyday objects into his pieces.  

"So, I was using sticks and things that I found as well as Polaroids," says Whittington. "All of my paintings had Polaroids in them in that first show of 13 pieces, and the original Art-o-mat was one of those 13 pieces."

Whittington’s new exhibit showcases more than 100 Polaroid, Fuji, and other instant photographs. They’re mounted on spent film cartridges like tiny black picture frames and carefully hung on colorful walls. It’s an eclectic mix of images: old friends, dogs, lighthearted moments with a strong sense of home and community frozen in time.

Scattered amongst the instant photos are paintings and conceptual works like “Buzzin Half Dozen.” It’s a roughly 3 by 2-foot oil canvass adorned with dozens of small artifacts from Whittington’s childhood — model cars, Altoid tins, some of them brightly painted, and a polaroid of a ’55 Chevy, with its straight line 6-cylinder engine. Whittington says this work was inspired by his late uncle Clyde, a textile worker who loved building things as well as collecting. Whittington says small, humble objects like these are the items that define us as a culture.

"A lot of this stuff is, you know, a little sentimental just because it has a backstory," he says. "So, the little linoleum, the ice scraper which came out of the Chevy gutter screening, I kind of know where a lot of these things came from."

And across the way stands "Icky Green Dripping with Slobber," a tennis ball hooked up to an IV bag that periodically drips, moistening the ball. Whittington says it’s based on his friend’s long-passed dogs who were always game for tennis ball play, returning them, covered in slobber to the laps of anyone willing to throw.