Archive 2007-08
Hannah Maybank
- Venue: Fine Art Lecture Theatre
- Start: Wed, 14 May 2008 11:30:00 BST
- End: Wed, 14 May 2008 14:00:00 BST
Hannah Maybank produces quiet spaces. Her paintings depict a curiosity in the ethereal, in the beauty of solitude and absence. By using motifs of trees, mountains and clouds- things so ordinary that we often pass them by- we are presented with a body of work that forces us to slow down and look.
On investigation these paintings reveal networks of patterns, fissures and textures; contrasting colours and moods. Through looking we are faced with the intertwined themes of stillness and subtlety, the changing processes of time and the ambivalent concept of space. The secrets of these paintings are unveiled to those who seek them, but not everything is given at once. Looking closer we see the repeated forms of a tree, inverted, reflected and scaled down. Processes are at work; things that appear still are changing and shifting. The movement between layers of paint dislocates normal perspective while the passing of time from point of creation to dissolution, visible in the rips and fragmentation of the paint, echoes the shifts that occur naturally in the depicted trees and clouds.
Hannah Maybank's paintings and ink drawings embody an ethereal, contemplative beauty inherent in the natural world. Her work perfectly compliments the rural location of ArtSway, with the New Forest acting as an inspiration for her recent residency which led to this exhibition.
The works created have an otherworldly quality to them, employing recurring motifs of trees, clouds and mountains, for example. The repetition of these motifs across the surfaces of the paintings not only echoes aspects of life, growth and decay, but also the cycle of the process in which the paintings were made.