It’s our history | 2003 | Clive Barker receives the Tom of Finland Foundation Cultural Icon Award

Presented at the at the Tom of Finland Los Angeles Erotic Art Weekend Awards Dinner

FOR ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT AND IMMEASURABLE CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE ART AND CULTURE OF OUR COMMUNITY

Clive Barker (born 5th October 1952) is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction.

Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie, a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department.

Barker has been openly homosexual since the early 1990s, first mentioning his dating life to US audiences in the pages of The Advocate magazine. He currently lives in Los Angeles, CA, with his partner, photographer David Armstrong, and Armstrong’s daughter from a previous relationship, Nicole. His household also includes many pets, including dogs, fish, and a bird named Malingo.

Clive Barker had said, “I want to be remembered as an imaginer, someone who used his imagination as a way to journey beyond the limits of self, beyond the limits of flesh and blood, beyond the limits of even perhaps life itself, in order to discover some sense of order in what appears to be a disordered universe. I’m using my imagination to find meaning, both for myself and, I hope, for my readers.”

Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread. A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Barker served as a consultant and wrote issues of the Hellraiser anthology comic book.

Co-sponsored by The City of West Hollywood & The City of West Hollywood Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board

Published: 14th July 2022

Categorised in: History