About
Malcolm William Clayton was born in Lancashire, UK, in 1954. Exceptionally gifted from an early age, he earned a full scholarship to study English at the University of Cambridge, where he first began to explore painting independently. After graduating, he went on to complete a PhD in Applied Linguistics at the University of London.
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Throughout his academic years Malcolm continued to forge his artistic identity. Dissatisfied with conventional materials and techniques, he devoted himself to experimentation, gradually developing his own distinctive medium and style, an approach that resulted in an intriguing effect that lands somewhere between oil and watercolour.
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After completing his doctorate, Malcolm moved with his family to Japan, living in Kumamoto, Shiga, and Osaka prefectures. He became proficient in Japanese and distinguished himself in the fields of literature and linguistics, serving as a professor of linguistics and philosophy at multiple universities and later as an advisor to the Ministry of Education in Tokyo.
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His years in Japan profoundly shaped his artistic sensibility. East-Asian aesthetics increasingly informed his work, and his paintings began receiving recognition in major art competitions both in the UK and Japan. He held several solo exhibitions, establishing himself as a painter of growing prominence.
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Despite a demanding academic career, Malcolm’s deepest passion remained painting. He worked with remarkable speed and intensity, often painting through the night and finishing medium-sized pieces in a single sitting and large canvases within just a few days.
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In 1999, after a period of significant mental health struggle, Malcolm tragically took his own life. At the time of his death he left behind an extraordinary body of work of approximately one thousand pieces. Hundreds now reside in public and private collections, with the remainder lovingly preserved by his family.
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I, who have cast nets
Needs-must weave the thread
And out of dark,
Catch the silver moment.
(Poem by Malcolm William Clayton at the age of 17)
Self portrait by Malcolm William Clayton
Artist Biography
1954 - Born in Lancashire, UK
1974 - Travelling Show sponsored by Mid-Pennine Arts Association
1975 - A one-man show of paintings and poems held within the context of the 1975 Cambridge Art and Poetry Festival. Commissioned to paint a large-scale work for Newham College Chapel to illustrate the Logian ‘Little Children – Love One Another’
1979 - First London exhibition at the Woodstock Gallery (Reviewed by Richard Walker) in the Sept. edition of ‘Art Review’
1983 - First Japan-Based exhibition at Marubun Gallery, Kumamoto, Japan
1983 - Exhibition sponsored by Oita Bus Co. at the Rainbow Gallery, Oita, Japan
1984 - Numerous shows at Japanese department stores and galleries, Japan
1987 - Large exhibition on two floors of Oishi Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
1988 - Palette Gallery Exhibition, Fukuoka, Japan
1988 - Large scale exhibition at Artspace Taihodo, Kumamoto, Japan. A 4-fold screen painting bought by Kumamoto prefectural Art Gallery and Museum
1989 - Second Palette Gallery Exhibition, Fukuoka, Japan
1989 - Exhibition at Kimura Gallery, Kumamoto, Japan
1989 - Exhibition at Artspace Roman, Fukuoka, Japan
1989 - ‘Circus’ exhibited at the RWA in Bristol and requested for the travelling show at Gloucester Museum, UK
1990 - ‘Distilled Life’ selected for the 1990 Hunting Exhibition and tour at the Mall Galleries, London, Portsmouth City Museum and Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, UK
1990 - Invited to exhibit large-scale works at Shimada Art Museum and Gallery
1993 - Won Otsu city Exhibition Award. and work purchased by Otsu city.
1993 - Won Emba New Artist Award
1993 - Won Shiga Prefecture Best Artist Award
1994 - Won Kyoto Art Exhibition Selection
1994 - Won two top awards in Nishinomiya city Exhibition
1994 - Won Yomiuri Newspaper Award in Otsu city Exhibition
1994 - Selected Emba Art Exhibition
1994 - Selected Mihama Art Exhibition
1994 - Selected The 2nd Koiso Ryohei Art Exhibition
1994 - Won Special Award in Shiga Prefecture Art Competition
1994 - First Clayton Exhibition in Sanjo Gallery, Kyoto
1995 - Selected in Nishiwaki Museum Art Exhibition
1995 - Selected in Kyoto Art Exhibition
1996 - Invited to exhibit at Kusatsu Cultural & Art Centre in Shiga
1996 - First Clayton Exhibition in Ashiya Gallery, Osaka
1998 - Exhibition at Kuga Memorial Museum, Fukuoka
1999 - Invited to have a one-man exhibition at Shimada Art Museum and Gallery
1999 - Dies by suicide at the age of 45