porslend: Alexis Harding

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Alexis Harding - abstracts

I thought there was a kind of correlation, or continuity of ideas seen in the work of Alberto Burri (see previous blog post below) and the work of British contemporary abstract artist, Alexis Harding.
Harding was born in 1973 and studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Since then, he has become one of London’s established contemporary artists, winning the prestigious John Moores Prize for Painting in 2004.

John Moores winner: Slump/Fear (orange/black)

From ‘Who’sJackMagazine’ online magazine:
Alexis Harding’s paintings are inescapably centred upon their own materiality; the materials themselves bringing about their own disintegration. Laying the support flat on the floor, Harding applies a layer of oil paint that has been heavily diluted with linseed oil. Whilst this block colour is still wet, he pours household gloss of a different colour on top. His early works were characterised by grid-like motifs, created by drilling evenly spaced holes along a length of guttering, and allowing the gloss to flow through these holes, producing parallel lines of pure colour as the guttering is moved across the surface of the painting. A chemical reaction then occurs between the two types of paint, allowing for a ‘period of instability’ in which a skin forms and the top layer is free to slide across that which is below it. Harding is able to manipulate these movements through tilting, shaking, even physically grabbing at the work before the paint’s fully dry. Thus the surface of the finished work appears to sag, drip, crumple, and rupture; viscous movement is caught in perpetual suspension.