Biography
British artist Colin David Clarke, aka strayltd, is best known for creating contemporary collage artworks that reference their source material to narrate stories with depth and context. Working with free association techniques inherent in a collage art practice, he relies heavily on elements of chance in his compositions by following a trail of his subconscious thoughts triggered by the relationship between different collage pieces. Examples of this type of methodology include depictions of Adam and Eve made out of i-D.vice.com, a sleeping person made out of Surrealist artworks and portraits of the Queen made from bits of UK punk memorabilia. 

Often leaving his collages roughly cut to aid the flow of subconscious thought, his aesthetic possesses a strong flavour of the DIY fanzines of the punk era. Taking this a step further, his three dimensional artworks are often stretched, folded and creased to add depth to the artwork, representing a major development of his style. Nevertheless, despite this unrefined approach, his artworks possess richly defined narratives, due to the use of free association and contextual source material. 

As he has noted, “Analysing my work involves a process similar to that of a waking person dissecting their dreams, with each artwork leaving you with the felling that it was just waiting to be discovered”

Born in 1971 in London, England, Clarke studied at Chelsea School of Art before gaining a degree at the University of the Creative Arts. More recently, he lives in London and Hamburg, where he has been involved within the record industry. Most notably he has received commissions from Grammy Award winning musicians The Mars Volta, creating seven dream themed collage artworks made from bits of The Mars Volta record covers for the box set La Realidad De Los Sueños (2021), and records Eunuch Provocateur (2021) and A Plague Upon Your Hissing Children (2021). A series of nine biographically themed collage artworks were later made from bits of Omar Rodríguez-López covers for the quadruple box set Amor De Frances (2023).

A strong advocate of digital art, Clarke has created a sold out debut cryptoart collection, ‘77 Portraits of The Queen (2022), made from bits of UK punk memorabilia, released for the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Later reviving the same source material for the coronation of King Charles III and Come The Revolution We Will All Be Kings For The Day (2023). His short-form video collaboration Hello Herbert (2024), made from bits of artworks by renowned digital art pioneer Herbert W. Franke, has also been published by Stiftung Herbert W. Franke.

Clarke is a versatlie artist and has been exhibited in small galleries around the world alongside a range of artists from varied disciplines, such as cryptoart pioneers at the Birth of New Tools, Tong Gallery, Beijing, China (2022), record cover artists at InBetween, Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, Germany (2022), SETI enthusiasts at Contact Attempt, Planetarium Hamburg (2024), Planetarium Bochum (2025) and Planetarium Jena (2025), Germany, and gaming enthusiasts at Select Start, Beeple’s Studios, South Carolina, USA (2025). Significantly, his three dimensional, mannerist collage Self-Portrait In A Convex Manner (2024) is represented in the permanent collection of Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Austria.

Resumé
Colin David Clarke aka strayltd
Born 1971, London, England
Lives in London, England and Hamburg, Germany
Works as an Artist, Art Director and Designer

Education
1988-90 Chelsea School of Art
1991-94 University of the Creative Arts, BA (hons) Graphic Design

Group Exhibitions
2025 Select Start, Beeple’s Studios, South Carolina, USA
2025 Contact Attempt, Planetarium Jena, Hamburg, Germany
2025 Contact Attempt, Planetarium Bochum, Bochum, Germany
2024 Contact Attempt, Planetarium Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
2024 Minot University, Intl All Media, Walter Piehl Gallery, Northwest Arts Centre, USA
2024 Accelerate Art, Continuum, High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2024 NFT.NYC, Javits Center, Hudson Yards, New York, USA
2023 NFT.NYC, Javits Center, Hudson Yards, New York, USA
2022 InBetween, Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg, Germany
2022 Birth Of New Tools, Tong Gallery, Beijing, China

Collections
2024 Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Austria, permanent collection
2022 XCOPY, private collection
2021 TokenAngels, private collection
2021 Jane Rogers, private collection

Awards
2025 Finalist, National Album Day UK mural open call
2024 Finalist, Stiftung Herbert W. Franke open call
2024 Finalist, Minot University, Northwest Arts Center, Intl All Media open call
2024 Finalist, Accelerate Art, Continuum open call
2023 Winner, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien open call

Publications
2025 Contact Attempt, Stiftung Herbert W. Franke

Commissions
2023 Amor De Frances, Omar Rodríguez-López
2021 Landscape Tantrums, The Mars Volta
2021 Inertiatic ESP, The Mars Volta
2021 La Realidad De Los Sueños, The Mars Volta
2021 A Plague Upon Your Hissing Children, The Mars Volta
2021 Eunuch Provocateur, The Mars Volta
2020 The Clouds Hill Tapes, Omar Rodríguez-López
2020 Winter’s Gone, Omar Rodríguez-López

Testimonials
“Your artwork will make an important contemporary contribution to our collection”
Sabine Haag, Director General, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien

“Stumbled across Queenies by strayltd and scambled to unlock my ledger. Banger.”
XCOPY, Cryptoart Pioneer

“La Realidad de los Sueños, resembles some kind of trippy, seemingly bottomless treasure chest”
Rolling Stone, April 2021

“His work is cool”
Omar Rodríguez-López, Musician, The Mars Volta