. rik hammond - work statement

Enquiry, chance and experiment tend to be the basis for the decisions I make whilst producing work. My artwork varies, as does my thinking about it, as does the way I wish to convey certain ideas. The route I take to make work usually plays a more important role than the finished piece. I enjoy working in an automatist way.

I like ambiguity, banality and indeterminancy. At one moment I wish to rid my work of obvious references - at another, I want to play with and develop the references.

I draw extensively - much of which exists in drawing books - often using fairly traditional materials such as ink and graphite. I embrace contradiction and I like work which refuses to directly expose its meaning. I enjoy conceptual ideas concerned with the language of art itself and am fascinated by self-reflexive work.

With my painting, I tend to approach it in an experimental way, treating it as an automatist exercise. Although some preliminaries are often planned (e.g. colour combinations, size and time scale etc.), I prefer to approach a painting in a similar way to a drawing in regards to the decisions and considerations I make about its production.

I often approach a canvas in a way which will exploit the importance of its edges in relation to the face of the canvas. The edges are more often than not significant zones of activity. A painting may have many stages beneath the final surface and I like the way the edges can record the processes and history of its production with drips an smudges.

With much of my work, the nature and format of the support are considered (along with the colours to be used, brush size, density of pencil etc.). I am interested in reduction, repetition and abstraction. I like work to interrelate and I often group works together in series. The routes to certain conclusions for me are often indicated by variations on a theme.

I rarely title artwork - though I often title series of works. If for nothing else, just to help me reference them.

I work with a wide range of media, including painting and drawing, collage, print, bookworks, digital media, mail art, film, photography, time based, action and site specific media.

I have a particular interest in art and research and collaborative and networking based artforms.

I am also interested in exploring the nature, meaning and production - and the mechanisms of 'reading' - visual art and enjoy examining the role of the artist, audience, participant and curator.

Rik Hammond - January 2007