Born in 1940, Clive Barker attained sculptural maturity in 1966. His work was exhibited at high-profile galleries in London and in Europe through to the 1970's, and has been included in numerous surveys and international exhibitions of Pop Art since. By replicating functional, mass-produced objects in gleaming metals, Barker has redefined Marcel Duchamp's concept of the 'ready-made'. His recreations of the ordinary awaken a sense of amazement at the beauty of the familiar, reinventing the surrounding world, giving his art a life-enhancing quality. During the first decade of the 21st century, Clive Barker readdressed food, one of his favourite themes. With 'Ham on the Bone' the artist not only gives continuity to his thread of work, shifting the status of his subjects from consumable items to articles embraced by the aura of fine art, but also captures the subject in a certain moment as to give the viewer the opportunity to admire the beauty of an otherwise ephemeral and perishable dish. With his metal casts of found objects by means of divided labour, Barker is firmly inscribed in art history as the heir of Marcel Duchamp and the forerunner of Jeff Koons.

The work of Clive Barker is in museum collections worldwide including: National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; British Museum, London; Tate, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; Museum für moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim; Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia Museum of Art.