Exploring Texture
Welcome to my first ‘blog’ page on my newly launched website…..
I’d like to share here some of the ideas and inspiration that is influencing my work, and pushing me in exciting new directions.
I have always had an interest in the ‘texture’ that can be explored within photography, but recently I have been using photography as the spring board for me to take the work somewhere else, rather than being the end product itself.
Hannah Dakin 2021 ( line drawing printed on tissue paper )
The kind of work that has always inspired and excited me is by artists such as Nigel Henderson, Sebastiaan Bremer, Rauschenberg and Hannah Hoch. All of them have taken photography beyond its purpose of pure reference. Their work begins with a photograph, but it is then set free to the artist’s creative intentions. They are worked over with inks, scratched, etched into, painted on, used as screen prints, cut up and re-arranged - all taking the original image into fantastical other forms. For me, these techniques used have always enhanced my experience of taking in the artwork; it is the physical depth, the texture and layers of material used that stimulate my imagination, or demand a consideration - this I feel, is what art should do: draw you in, make you stop and think.
From left to right : ‘Untitled No.8 ( Shattered Glass )’ 1959 by Nigel Henderson . ‘She’s a real mother for ya ‘ 2018 by Sebastian Bremer
So it’s this process of taking the original image, and manipulating it further that has always resonated for me. I have experimented in the past with casting images in wax, it was a project addressing memory, and I felt that wax was the perfect material for symbolising the properties associated with memory : a desire to preserve and treasure, yet also the literal ‘clouding’ of recollection, time distorting the facts - making memory and image somewhat unclear.
My recent work takes inspiration from the natural world: the patterns, colour and form that nature exudes is constantly catching my eye and wonder. I am drawn to the more abstract shapes , the less obvious beauty within nature.
The work above began from ice formations in some muddy puddles, the image below was the starting point. Through the reworking of the material I am getting to some exciting new ground for me, and I look forward to sharing more in my future posts.
Hannah Dakin