South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell
27 November 2010 – 23 January 2011
Venue: South Hill Park Arts Centre, South West England
Published by a-n The Artists Information Company between 2000 and 2026. December 23, 2010
The relationship between science and art has always been a precarious one. Yet for some artists, the process matters more than the outcome. Derek Hill takes this approach in his latest exhibition, the FLAW series, at South Hill Park Arts Centre. He is interested in finding new ways to make work that challenges viewers’ ideas about art history and what makes an artwork significant.
Using a range of materials, from solvent-based and industrial paints to traditional oils, Hill brings together the worlds of science and art in dramatic, theatrical paintings. His curiosity recalls a GCSE science experiment: mixing liquids and acids to produce copper crystals. But while Hill shares that spirit of experimentation, his results are altogether different. The paintings’ expansive scale and intricate surfaces evoke the landscape of Mars, while their materials seem, in Hill’s own words, to be constantly “evolving.”
FLAW challenges the idea that painting is necessarily flat or traditional. Hill lets the process guide the work, allowing pure colours to produce unexpected effects. “Alchemist”¹ might be the most fitting description of the artist; a microscope would be useful for observing the biological changes taking place on the canvas. Traditional notions of aesthetic beauty are largely set aside, though the scale and colour manipulations recall Abstract Expressionism. Here, beauty lies in the process.
Repeated layers of paint help Hill create these striking, organic compositions. The works also suggest the influence of colour-field painting: their surfaces can seem almost minimal until the changing media draw the viewer’s attention. There may even be echoes of Clyfford Still in the melting forms.
All in all, FLAW is an engaging exhibition, combining science and art in a way that will appeal to anyone with a curious disposition.
(1) The term “alchemist” was used by Millard, J. in ‘FLAW: The New Work by Derek Hill’, Bracknell, South Hill Park exhibition handout, 2010.
(Adam Kelly)
https://archive.a-n.co.uk/reviews/flaw-the-new-work-by-derek-hill-2/