Charles Clough: The Way to Clufffalo

Acclaimed painter and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center founder Charles Clough left Buffalo in 1978 to pursue his art career in New York City. This spring, he proves that you can go home again. The noted postmodern artist is back in Western New York to participate in a series of art events, including the Buffalo State College Bacon Award Speaker Series lecture Monday, April 16, at 7:00 p.m. at the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

Clough will present "The Way to Clufffalo," an illustrated 40-year report on his life and art. The lecture, sponsored by Buffalo State’s Visual Arts Board and funded by a grant from Dr. Margaret E. Bacon, ’41, is free and open to the public.

"My life is a poem punctuated by paintings and pictures and those around me. My youthful experience of Buffalo's institutions are responsible for my structure of intentionality," said Clough, who recently opened an art space called Clufffalo at the Hi-Temp Fabrication Building at 79 Perry Street in Buffalo’s burgeoning canalside area.

Local interest in Clough's work is booming. The Way to Clufffalo, a 40-year retrospective of his work opened at the University at Buffalo Art Gallery on March 31 and runs through May 19. Clough’s artwork is also included in Wish You Were Here: The Buffalo Avant-garde in the 1970s, a major exhibition at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery on display from March 30 through July 8.

Clough spent significant time on the Buffalo State campus in the 1970s collaborating with Buffalo State students Cindy Sherman, Robert Longo, and others. Their story is featured in the latest issue of 1300 Elmwood magazine.