Hamish Fulton
20 Sep - 10 Nov 2007
HAMISH FULTON
"Toledo en el horizonte (Toledo on the Horizon)"
Opening: Thursday 20th September 2007, 8 pm
Born in the UK in 1946, Hamilton currently lives in London. He studied at the St Martins School of Art, where he initially trained as a sculptor, working in what might be called post-conceptualism. However, his experiences with landscape brought him closer to US art practitioners like Richard Long, though, unlike other artists in the Land Art movement, rather that directly intervening in the physical space, Fulton “captures” and synthesises it in highly poetical images.
His art strategy develops while on journeys on foot he simply calls “walks”. Fulton follows a precise itinerary on these walks, and maintains a close relationship with his chosen path. On one hand, this requires a considerable physical effort, while on the other hand it gives him an in-depth acquaintance with the history and the physical or cultural features of the specific area. And then there is the personal experience he later synthesises in his studio in photographs that are in themselves capable of conveying the essence of the travelled path.
He couples the always black & white images with texts that feature the particular geographical coordinates of the place while at once transmitting the artist’s experience through an evocative phrase or sentence.
While his work might be related with the Romantic flâneur, its approach to Nature and landscape is at odds with those romantic or environmentalist principles. Likewise, Fulton’s relationship with travelling is radically opposed to present-day tourism. Without a doubt, it is closer to the spiritual experience of pilgrimage in which the individual travels through a territory with which he or she strikes up an emotional bond. As the artist himself says “no walk, no work”. He has also situated himself apart from contemporary artists who take the urban as the focus of their work: “Nature is the source of my art and the art is a form of passive protest against the dominance of urban life. I’m curious about the wilderness not the metropolis”.
The artist has made several “walks” in Spain and has exhibited his work at the Museu Serralves, Porto, 2001; Tate Britain, London, 2002; Bawag Foundation, Vienna, 2003; Haus Konstriktiv, Zurich, 2004; and Fundación César Manrique, Lanzarote, 2005.
Hamish Fulton began this “walk” in Finisterre, in Galicia, traditionally the end of all roads in Spain. He did so on 12th October, Hispanidad Day or Columbus Day as it’s known in the US, taking a concentric path toward the centre of the peninsula, finishing in Toledo, the old capital of the kingdom.
"Toledo en el horizonte (Toledo on the Horizon)"
Opening: Thursday 20th September 2007, 8 pm
Born in the UK in 1946, Hamilton currently lives in London. He studied at the St Martins School of Art, where he initially trained as a sculptor, working in what might be called post-conceptualism. However, his experiences with landscape brought him closer to US art practitioners like Richard Long, though, unlike other artists in the Land Art movement, rather that directly intervening in the physical space, Fulton “captures” and synthesises it in highly poetical images.
His art strategy develops while on journeys on foot he simply calls “walks”. Fulton follows a precise itinerary on these walks, and maintains a close relationship with his chosen path. On one hand, this requires a considerable physical effort, while on the other hand it gives him an in-depth acquaintance with the history and the physical or cultural features of the specific area. And then there is the personal experience he later synthesises in his studio in photographs that are in themselves capable of conveying the essence of the travelled path.
He couples the always black & white images with texts that feature the particular geographical coordinates of the place while at once transmitting the artist’s experience through an evocative phrase or sentence.
While his work might be related with the Romantic flâneur, its approach to Nature and landscape is at odds with those romantic or environmentalist principles. Likewise, Fulton’s relationship with travelling is radically opposed to present-day tourism. Without a doubt, it is closer to the spiritual experience of pilgrimage in which the individual travels through a territory with which he or she strikes up an emotional bond. As the artist himself says “no walk, no work”. He has also situated himself apart from contemporary artists who take the urban as the focus of their work: “Nature is the source of my art and the art is a form of passive protest against the dominance of urban life. I’m curious about the wilderness not the metropolis”.
The artist has made several “walks” in Spain and has exhibited his work at the Museu Serralves, Porto, 2001; Tate Britain, London, 2002; Bawag Foundation, Vienna, 2003; Haus Konstriktiv, Zurich, 2004; and Fundación César Manrique, Lanzarote, 2005.
Hamish Fulton began this “walk” in Finisterre, in Galicia, traditionally the end of all roads in Spain. He did so on 12th October, Hispanidad Day or Columbus Day as it’s known in the US, taking a concentric path toward the centre of the peninsula, finishing in Toledo, the old capital of the kingdom.