Lenka Clayton

Lenka Clayton (b. 1977) is a British-American interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her work considers, exaggerates, and alters the accepted rules of everyday life, extending the familiar into the realms of the poetic and absurd. Clayton graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins School of Art, London, in 1999. In 2006, she earned an MA in Documentary Direction from the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, UK. Clayton is the founder of An Artist Residency in Motherhood, which takes place inside the homes and lives of artists who are also parents. Key exhibitions include A talking parrot, a high school drama class, a Punjabi TV show, the oldest song in the world, a museum artwork, and a congregation’s call to action circle through New York (with Jon Rubin), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY (2017), and Object Temporarily Removed at The Fabric Workshop & Museum, Philadelphia, PA (2017). Recent group exhibitions include The Grand Illusion at the 2019 Lyon Biennial, France; and Apollo’s Muse at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY (2019). Clayton has received support from the Warhol Foundation and The National Endowment for the Arts. Her work is held in collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; and others. She is currently represented by Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco.