The historic artwork first began as a simple sketch on the back of an airline napkin while the Australian born artist was circling the New York City skyline waiting to land at John F. Kennedy Airport in 1977. Upon returning to his home in Los Angeles, the initial sketch was recreated on a poster size sheet of paper thus beginning an artistic endeavor that would continue for over a decade of expansion and refinement culminating in an artpiece measuring eight feet in length.

The architectural montage featuring a blend of twenty-nine actual buildings seen in cities across America and structures of the artist's own creation has been described as the most distinctive American image created within the past quarter of a century. The graphic was drawn with ballpoint and felt tip pens and then reproduced by computer for the printing process.

The focus and theme of "American Highrise" was to capture the shapes and geometry of American architecture being built as the 20th Century Millenium comes to an end. To accomplish this objective, the artist integrated into the montage those 29 buildings including such landmarks as The Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. The artist included The Statue of Liberty into the image as a symbol that embodies the American dream.

The selection of the buildings that were incorporated into the montage was based on a consensus given to the artist by a diverse group of people from all across the nation as to what buildings were the most recognizable to the average person. Those cities represented by their landmark buildings are Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, Denver, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Pittsburg, and Washington, D.C.

Mr. Clark, whose ancestry is Russian, was born in Brisbane, Australia and emigrated to the United States in 1974. AMERICAN HIGHRISE is his artistic tribute to the people of the United States of America and the flag that stands for freedom around the world.

After ten years of development and refinement consuming over 2,000 ballpoint and felt tip pens the historic image that began as a napkin sketch now measures eight feet in length. The most honored and most widely distributed piece of contemporary Americana in history is currently on display at The American Presidential Museum in Branson, Missouri.

The Presidential American Highrise mural on display at the Los Angeles National Cemetery on Memorial Day.