born to a working-class family in the north of england, and a full-time art student on scholarship at 13, clarke came to prominence in the late 1970s, buoyed by the energy of the punk movement, and by the early 1980s had become a major figure in international contemporary art, the subject of several television documentaries and a café society regular known for his architectonic art, prolific output in various media, friendships with celebrities and key cultural figures, and polemical lectures and interviews.