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. Often working with music memorabilia because of his early exposure to an eclectic catalogue of music, he has extended his practice to include cultural websites and magazines, as well as other artists. Examples of his methodology include an image of a sleeping person made out of Surrealist artworks, depictions of Adam and Eve made out of i-D.vice.com, 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 current three dimensional artworks are stretched, folded and creased, representing a major development in his artistic practice. 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. Each artwork leaves you with the feeling it was just waiting to be discovered in the source material”

Born in 1971 in London, England, Clarke studied at Chelsea School of Art and University of the Creative Arts, gaining an honours degree. He now lives and works in London and Hamburg, as a freelance artist and art director. 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 the 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 created a sold out debut cryptoart collection, ‘77 Portraits of The Queen (2022), made from bits of UK punk memorabilia, and released for the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Later reviving the same source material for Come The Revolution We Will All Be Kings For The Day (2023), during the coronation of King Charles III. 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 versatile artist and has been exhibited in small galleries around the world alongside his contemporaries from a range of 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, Germany (2025), 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 | @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
2026 Odyssey, Hastings Contemporary Gallery, Hastings, England
2025 Select Start, Beeple’s Studios, South Carolina, USA
2025 Contact Attempt, Stiftung Herbert W. Franke, Planetarium Jena, Jena, Germany
2025 Contact Attempt, Stiftung Herbert W. Franke, Planetarium Bochum, Bochum, Germany
2024 Contact Attempt, Stiftung Herbert W. Franke, Planetarium Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
2024 Intl All Media, Minot University, Walter Piehl Gallery, Northwest Arts Centre, USA
2024 Continuum, Accelerate Art, High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, Netherlands
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

Publications & Appearances
2025 Contact Attempt, Stiftung Herbert W. Franke, FullDome Publication
2024 Art Aperitivo, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Podcast
2021 La Realidad De Los Sueños, The Mars Volta Podcast, Podcast

Commissions
2023 Amor De Frances, Omar Rodríguez-López, Quadruple Box Set
2021 La Realidad De Los Sueños, The Mars Volta, Box Set
2021 A Plague Upon Your Hissing Children, The Mars Volta, 12” Single
2021 Eunuch Provocateur, The Mars Volta, 12” Single
2021 Landscape Tantrums, The Mars Volta, Album
2021 Inertiatic ESP, The Mars Volta, Single
2020 The Clouds Hill Tapes, Omar Rodríguez-López, Triple Album Box Set
2020 Winter’s Gone, Omar Rodríguez-López, Single

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