Phill Hopkins Fukushima Series A response To A Natural Disaster

Phill Hopkins

Phill Hopkins is exhibiting 27 works from his growing ‘Fukushima Series’ for the first time, in the Exhibition ‘Finished-Unfinished’. The works include small notebook drawings, monotypes, sculpture and video pieces.

“Let no thought pass incognito, and keep your notebook as strictly as the authorities keep their register of aliens.” ― Walter Benjamin

Hopkins says of his practise “Drawing is central to me. Not only is it at the core of my practise as an artist, but, possibly more importantly, it allows me to be tethered to and in the world. Moreover, these two areas are in fact one and the same. I draw obsessively; sometimes having an idea to get down on paper and at other times drawing for the pleasure (or displeasure) it brings. Drawing is immediate, sometimes dealing with narrative and at other times devoid of story. Drawing allows ideas to come into being; the channel from imagination to reality. Sculpture comes directly from drawing; seldom do I make without drawing. I use materials and images in a similar way; that is, I buy, acquire or find; self-sufficiency in the place where I live or the places I travel through and to.

The image of the house, which features heavily in some of my work, is a simple statement of fact; that is, it does not put forward an argument or agenda, but rather it presents information. However, it may also act or function tacitly, making implicit arguments or statements, using a variety of means to influence the viewer. It resonates with the building up and the dismantling of my inner and the external environment. I am drawn to the feel of the house shape, that is, the porosity of its external and inner surfaces and its susceptibility which allows me to imbue it with happenings, both physical to me and directly linked to my imagination. The house is often blank or even ‘speechless’ and may act as an emissary; an object that discloses information, communicating knowledge of itself or something beyond.”

Hopkins says of the Fukushima Series “Since March 2011 I have been working on the ‘Fukushima’ series, made in response to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. This has resulted in a growing number of drawings, sculptures, prints and video works”

About the drawings “I visited an old garden where I saw a very primitively made garden rake; using a block with triangles cut out and a broom handle. This reminded me of the rakes used in Japanese Zen gravel gardens. I immediately made drawings connecting ideas of moving gravel or sand with images of houses being moved by the tsunami. A dichotomy of order and disorder or balance and unbalance… The image of the rake soon became an upturned house or row of houses”

About the sculpture “The sculptures are small; about the same size as the images in the notebook drawings. They are made from matchsticks using a glue gun to stick together.
They continue the theme of order or balance, but pursue these in the physicality of sculpture itself. They are delicate and carefully placed or poised in an attempt to achieve a kind of equilibrium”

Phill Hopkins was born in Bristol, England. He studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, London. He lives and works in London and Leeds. He states, We share, possibly sustained collectively by, a real sense of a national anxiety. My work reflects this. I use materials and images in a similar way; that is I buy, acquire or find locally; a self-sufficiency in the Leeds community where I live or the places I travel through and to. The image of the house, which features heavily in some of my work, is a simple statement of fact; that is, it does not put forward an argument or agenda, but rather it presents information. However, it may also act or function tacitly, making implicit arguments or statements, using a variety of means to influence the viewer. It resonates with the building up and the dismantling of my inner and the external environment. I am drawn to the feel of the house shape, that is, the porosity of its external and inner surfaces and its susceptibility which allows me to imbue it with happenings, both physical to me and directly linked to my imagination. The house is often blank or even ‘speechless’ and may act as an emissary; an object that discloses information, communicating knowledge of itself or something beyond.

Phill Hopkins ‘Finished-Unfinished’ 21 September – 20 October 2012
Galerie Pack of Patches Lutherstrasse 160  07743 Jena, Germany

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