Hamish Allan
Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga exhibiting artist
Day Tripper (2020)
I have been a full-time, artist since 2000. Initially working at the Christchurch Arts Centre for 5 years, during which time I transitioned my practice from sculpture to painting and drawing. My current art practice commonly involves the interpretation and construction of concepts regarding the natural environment and the human condition and the relationship between the two.
My work has an underlying foundation of a strong sense of aesthetic presence and a graphic refinement of tone and content, which I use to convey a narrative of place and time.
I am currently working with an eye on refinement and simplification of what I see and experience in my local environment and wider community. This may well be an elusive end goal but it seems a worthwhile task.
I have recently been drawn to the visual drama and tension created by the Metaphysical artists such as Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte and the premise of painting that which can not be seen.
I live and work from our home studio in Beckenham, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga 2020
I can hear you, on the wind, telling tall tales (2020)
I can hear you, on the wind, telling tall tales - is a reflection of the sounds during the Covid-19 lockdown period over April and May 2020.
Music could be heard drifting in and out of audible range. With the absence of motor vehicles, over the Lockdown period, the sounds of the natural environment were accentuated and not muffled or muted by traffic.
Perhaps these sounds allowed contact between individuals and groups that were restricted to isolating in their small ‘Bubbles’ at the time. We all heard the same sounds that seemed brighter and more mellifluous than normal.
The birds too, sang their songs louder and clearer, in the carless city, over the lockdown period. Were they celebrating the new sense of peace and quiet in their environment or did we just start noticing them now that we had the time and awareness of our place? I could hear them, telling tall tales.