Clark Stoeckley is a Kuwait-based, American Multidisciplinary Artist and Educator whose practice uses art as a tool for social justice, working across photography, drawing, painting, performance, and public intervention. His work bridges socially engaged observation and meditative abstraction, exploring themes of resilience, vulnerability, and spirituality in contemporary life. He joins Studio 88 as an Artist-in-Residence programme in January 2026.
Working across media and contexts, Stoeckley approaches art not as an end product, but as a tool for social justice—one that connects Utopian ideals with everyday life and invites reflection, dialogue, and re-imagination. His work is often situated beyond traditional gallery spaces, unfolding instead on the street, online, or within lived social systems, where art can engage broader public and challenge entrenched power structures.
Stoeckley earned an MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and a BFA in Studio Art with a focus on Alternative Media from Webster University. His early formation in performance, activism, and interdisciplinary practice continues to inform a body of work that moves fluidly between documentation, abstraction, critique, and poetic observation. One notable chapter of his career includes his role as a courtroom artist for The United States vs. Private Chelsea Manning: A Graphic Account Inside the Courtroom, a graphic reportage project that brought visibility to issues of whistle-blowing, state power, and transparency.
His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions and venues including the International Spy Museum (Washington, DC), apexart (New York), Pratt Manhattan Gallery, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, EIDIA House (Brooklyn), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), Hartware MedienKunstVerein (Dortmund), Revolt Gallery (Taos, New Mexico), and Contemporary Art Platform (Kuwait). His practice has also received wide media coverage in outlets such as ARTnews, VICE, Hyperallergic, the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Nation, MSNBC, and PBS, reflecting his commitment to engaging audiences both inside and outside the art world.
Alongside his artistic practice, Stoeckley is a dedicated educator. He is currently an Associate Professor of Art & Graphic Design at the American University of Kuwait, where he teaches drawing, painting, illustration, interdisciplinary design, 3D design, and creativity studies. His teaching philosophy emphasizes critical inquiry, sustainability, and art as a form of civic engagement. He has previously taught at Bloomfield College in New Jersey and with the Brooklyn College Community Partnership, and regularly contributes to international conferences, panels, and lectures on art, resistance, visual culture, and socially engaged pedagogy.
Two interconnected bodies of work—Feral Feline Photography and Thoughts & Prayers—form the foundation of Stoeckley’s current practice and will be further developed during his residency at Studio 88. Feral Feline Photography began after his relocation to the Middle East, where encounters with stray cats in urban environments offered a symbolic and accessible way to engage with social issues. Through subtle composition and attentive observation, the project documents the lives of feral cats as embodiments of resilience, adaptability, and survival within rapidly changing cities. Shared widely through digital platforms, the work challenges notions of domesticity and wildness while advocating empathy for overlooked lives—human and nonhuman alike.
In contrast, Thoughts & Prayers turns inward, exploring ritual, repetition, and spirituality through geometric abstract drawing and painting. Influenced by sonic environments, sacred geometry, psychedelia, street art, and lived cultural dissonance—such as navigating vastly different political and spiritual contexts—these works seek harmony within chaos. What began as a meditative practice to preserve psychological and emotional well-being has evolved into a visual language that offers moments of balance, joy, and contemplation amid global unrest and media saturation.
During his residency at Studio 88, Stoeckley plans to balance daily exploration of Chiang Mai’s streets and neighborhoods—continuing his Feral Feline photographic series—with evening studio sessions dedicated to expanding Thoughts & Prayers. This rhythm of outward observation and inward reflection mirrors the dual nature of his practice. Drawn to Studio 88’s emphasis on community engagement alongside focused studio time, he envisions the residency as a space to synthesize these approaches into a cohesive new body of work.
Across all facets of his practice, Stoeckley resists preaching or polarization. Instead, he seeks common ground—using humor, accessibility, and visual resonance to open constructive dialogue. Through his time at Studio 88, he aims to further explore vulnerability, resilience, and spirituality as shared human conditions, offering art as a quiet but persistent catalyst for awareness, empathy, and change.
More about Clark Steckley on his website.
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