Andrew Hardwick, Purple Estuary II
Andrew Hardwick, Ditches, docks and storage car
park
Andrew Hardwick, Sheep saltings and estuary
Andrew Hardwick: Tidal Wilderness
13 March - 6 May 2010
The show, Andrew’s first in Bath since 1991,
will comprise about 20 multimedia paintings inspired by the
geology, archaeology and topography of the Severn Estuary. Totally
unsentimental in nature, the exhibits embrace the full gamut of the
area’s features, from industrial intrusions to tidal wilderness,
from acres of tarmac to miles of desolate saltmarsh.
View a press
release here
Andrew explains: “I grew up on a farm near the
Royal Portbury Dock, where the Avon meets the Severn. My work
explores this surreal landscape of car storage parks, motorways and
wastelands, seeking out beauty in the most unlikely spots – for
example on the occasion of massive estuary sunsets."
“My paintings are often on a huge scale and
heavily layered with texture. For this exhibition, I have made work
in a range of sizes, including smaller ones which I refer to as
studies, although they are still exercises in texture."
“All the paintings are continually worked and
reworked, painted, glazed, plastered and covered with photocopies,
burnt, scored and scratched. I also incorporate soil, sand, straw,
toys and artefacts into the paint - one image is covered with Dinky
cars, another has an Airfix model attached to it referring to a
bomber that crashed at Avonmouth some years ago"
.
All paintings in the
exhibition are for sale.