Andrew Hardwick: Tidal Wilderness
February 2010
A new exhibition, opening at Bath & North
East Somerset Council’s Victoria Art Gallery on March 13, comprises
around 20 multimedia paintings inspired by the geology, archaeology
and topography of the Severn Estuary.
The exhibition, Tidal
Wilderness by artist Andrew Hardwick, is his first in Bath
since 1991. Totally unsentimental in nature, the exhibits embrace
the full gamut of the Severn Estuary’s features, from industrial
intrusions to tidal wilderness, from acres of tarmac to miles of
desolate saltmarsh.
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.
“It is my aim that the paintings should
function as evocative and atmospheric studies of the ever shifting
environment that shaped me.”
Andrew Hardwick was born in Bristol into a
farming family who worked a strip of land adjoining the Bristol
Channel. This landscape, with its redundant army camp and gun
emplacement, was his playground whilst growing up. Between 1987 and
1997 he studied fine art at the Bath College of Art, the University
of the West of England and the University of Wales. For his BA
exhibition in 1995 he burnt, carved and painted the land onto a
pair of old barn doors.
Andrew currently lives and works in Bristol.
He exhibits his work widely, from Plymouth to London, Liverpool and
Belfast.
The Exhibition runs concurrently with sculptor
Edwina Bridgeman’s show Shelter, from March 13 to
May 6, 2010. All work will be for sale. The Victoria Art Gallery in
Bridge Street Bath is open Tuesday-Sunday, closed Mondays. Visit
http://www.victoriagal.org.uk/
for more information.
ENDS
Image available: Ditches, docks and storage
car park
Victoria Art Gallery
- Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Victoria Art Gallery
attracted a record 107,000 visitors last year. It is the museum
most visited by local people. It is also the second most visited
museum in the Bath & North East Somerset catchment area, topped
only by another Council-run museum, the Roman Baths.
- The Victoria Art Gallery houses the area’s permanent collection
of British and European art from the 15th century to the present
day including works by Gainsborough, Turner and Sickert. The
gallery has one of the best temporary exhibition programmes in the
region, ranging from prints to sculpture, including national
touring exhibitions and major retrospectives. There are frequent
workshops, holiday activities and a full programme for
schools.
For further information, please
contact: Jon Benington, Manager of the Victoria Art
Gallery on 01225 477772 or by email at jon_benington@bathnes.gov.uk
For further images contact:
Sue Lucy on 477232 or by email at sue_lucy@bathnes.gov.uk