If Indianapolis didn’t have an aesthetic provocateur like John Clark, the mayor’s cultural initiative would have to invent him. Clark has the kind of creative spark that nIo scene can live without. As the inventor/publisher of avant-garde zine pLopLop, Clark has provided a venue for original writing by Beats, Surrealists and Dadaists as well as other far-out practitioners whose work has yet to be named.

Clark is also a visual artist and on Sept. 8 he will have a one-man show of his paintings at another of his creative projects, the Big Car North gallery at Invoke Studios, 970 Fort Wayne Ave. Clark will host a reading by poets published in past issues of pLopLop. This happening is intended to get people involved in imagining what’s next in pLopLop’s future. This art and literary party runs from 7-10 p.m. and admission is free.