Survey show of fifteen years of work by Sussex artist Tom Hammick

Julian Page Projects in Chichester is presenting a survey show of fifteen years of work by Sussex artist Tom Hammick, encompassing a variety of artistic mediums and a couple of surprises.

The 2020-2021 associate artist at Glyndebourne, Tom’s work is held in various public and private institutions worldwide, including the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester.

Flowing and Flown is the exhibition and runs from September 10-October 24.

Tom said: “The title for this exhibition, Flowing and Flown, comes from a line in Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, At the Fishhouses. Bishop often shaped each poem with a specific observation from a personal experience of an encounter which later, through her use of a cooler, more removed voice, shifted into a viewpoint that she felt held a truthful statement about the universal.

“Flowing and Flown refers to knowledge which can be allusive when it represents the big picture of life on our planet. In my own way, and perhaps all artists try to do this, I want to make images that are specific to my own experiences but also conjure a shared emotional response about what it is like to be human, which in turn might add to their universality. Well, that is the dream! To quote Bishop again, from her majestic poem The Moose, I would love to conjure up that fizz of ‘Life’s like that, and also death.’

“I don’t believe in a hierarchy in the arts. In my own practice, painting feeds the woodcuts and etchings and vice versa. Both print mediums and painting are informed by my drawings, made on the hoof, photographs, newspaper cuttings, poems, film stills. More complex imagery often stems from more complex source material, like key themes in operas and plays.”

Julian said: “Pallant House Gallery opened a show in their Print Room dedicated to Tom’s 2019 print series, The Making of Poetry. We are also presenting a number of these Making of Poetry woodcuts. An equal share of the proceeds of every sale of these prints will go to Pallant House’s development fund.”

Tom Hammick will be in conversation with author Adam Nicholson at Pallant House on Thursday, September 17 from 6-7pm. Tickets via pallant.org.uk

Julian Page Projects, 12 Northgate, Chichester, PO19 1BA. Opening times: Monday–Wednesday: by appointment; Thursday–Friday: 11am–4pm; Saturday: 11am–2pm; Sunday: Closed. Gallery closed September 24-26.