Neil Hamon
09 Apr - 09 May 2009
NEIL HAMON
"My Heart Struck Sweet Sorrow"
April 9 - May 9, 2009
For his first solo exhibition at Galeria Leme, Neil Hamon presents My Heart Struck Sweet Sorrow. Continuing his investigation into our relationship with loss, and the fictions and narratives we create in an attempt to overcome it, Hamon’s new body of work focuses upon the notion of death and resurrection.
Accentuating the Church-like qualities of Galeria Leme is a selection of pear wood sculptures that take on the guise of antique religious carvings. The Resurrection portrays a life-size faux antique statue of a resurrected Christ yet, as is often the case with Hamon’s work, something has gone awry.
In counterpoint, Invasion, a video installation, re-configures footage from the 1956 Black and White film ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ and its 1978 Technicolor remake. Whilst the narrative of the original story remains the same, the fear of being replaced by soulless replicas, Hamon’s version has the cast from the original film discover they are being replaced not by identical copies but by their technological advanced counterparts of` the future.
Accompanying these works is a series of debossed letterpress prints, which appropriate text from traditional American blues spirituals. Hamon re-presents the song titles within the context of memorial relief’s to underscore their religious connotations.
About the artist:
Neil Hamon (Jersey, 1975) lives and works in London.
He studied MA Fine Art at Goldsmiths and Sculpture BA at Central St Martin’s.
He has exhibited widely in the United Kingdom and internationally.
Recent exhibitions include: Replications (Belfast Exposed, 2008/09), Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind (curated by Robert Storr, 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007), When We Build Let Us Think That We Build Forever (Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle, 2007), Six Feet Under (Fine Arts Museum, Berne, 2006/07), Larry’s Cocktails (Gagosian, London 2005), and a solo exhibition at Galeria Fucares, Madrid, 2008.
"My Heart Struck Sweet Sorrow"
April 9 - May 9, 2009
For his first solo exhibition at Galeria Leme, Neil Hamon presents My Heart Struck Sweet Sorrow. Continuing his investigation into our relationship with loss, and the fictions and narratives we create in an attempt to overcome it, Hamon’s new body of work focuses upon the notion of death and resurrection.
Accentuating the Church-like qualities of Galeria Leme is a selection of pear wood sculptures that take on the guise of antique religious carvings. The Resurrection portrays a life-size faux antique statue of a resurrected Christ yet, as is often the case with Hamon’s work, something has gone awry.
In counterpoint, Invasion, a video installation, re-configures footage from the 1956 Black and White film ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ and its 1978 Technicolor remake. Whilst the narrative of the original story remains the same, the fear of being replaced by soulless replicas, Hamon’s version has the cast from the original film discover they are being replaced not by identical copies but by their technological advanced counterparts of` the future.
Accompanying these works is a series of debossed letterpress prints, which appropriate text from traditional American blues spirituals. Hamon re-presents the song titles within the context of memorial relief’s to underscore their religious connotations.
About the artist:
Neil Hamon (Jersey, 1975) lives and works in London.
He studied MA Fine Art at Goldsmiths and Sculpture BA at Central St Martin’s.
He has exhibited widely in the United Kingdom and internationally.
Recent exhibitions include: Replications (Belfast Exposed, 2008/09), Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind (curated by Robert Storr, 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007), When We Build Let Us Think That We Build Forever (Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle, 2007), Six Feet Under (Fine Arts Museum, Berne, 2006/07), Larry’s Cocktails (Gagosian, London 2005), and a solo exhibition at Galeria Fucares, Madrid, 2008.