South Hill Park Arts Centre Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park, Bracknell
27 November 2010 – 23 January 2011
Venue: Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park
Published by A-N The Artists Information Company between 2000 and 2026. December 22, 2010
The exhibition FLAW, at the Bracknell Gallery in South Hill Park, brings together works by Derek Hill created using industrial paints, solvents and oils. Although the works are abstract, they evoke several other art movements. The blending of colours recalls the Impressionists and Turner’s depictions of shipwrecks and stormy seas. The canvases’ fluid, tactile surfaces suggest Jackson Pollock’s work, while the layers of glue and resin on some pieces bring to mind automatic drawing. These varied visual associations make the exhibition compelling and exciting.
The meaning of the FLAW series is open to interpretation. By moving away from visual reality, the abstract canvases invite viewers to construct their own responses through imagination. As a result, the exhibition feels deeply personal to each visitor.
At first glance, I associated the works with joy, colour and experimentation. On closer inspection, however, a darker, more sombre undertone emerges. This tension is partly created by the materials and the layers they form. Paint and oil, for instance, seem to resist one another rather than settle comfortably on the canvas, creating a sense of unease.
Hill has been described as an alchemist because of the techniques he uses. Yet the works themselves also seem to reflect scientific processes. Their surfaces appear metamorphic, and some pieces resemble discoveries made in a Petri dish or cells viewed under a microscope. These associations with scientific inquiry may also suggest disease or illness, reinforcing the darker undertone present in the series.
Overall, the exhibition makes a striking impression. It invites viewers to linger over the canvases, develop their own interpretations and appreciate works that are both open-ended and visually compelling.
(Rachel Hudson)
https://archive.a-n.co.uk/reviews/flaw-the-new-work-by-derek-h