We are thrilled that the piece Cumuloform 1 from our amazing artist Lawrie Hutcheon is featured as the poster campaign for the 2024 Affordable Art Fair - Battersea Spring (6-10 March). Represented by TAG Fine Arts, Lawrie's artworks captivate the visual senses through vivid colour, challenging our perspectives on the world and prompting us to question our surroundings. 

Can you start by telling us about your practice - where did it all begin?

My interest in art became apparent at school, where instead of playing football and rugby in my free time, I'd be in the art room focusing on painting and ceramics, whilst at home I developed an interest in photography and started exploring abstract and experimental techniques.

In 2016 [...] I began exploring algorithms as a creative tool, a technique that fascinated me; how concise instructions can generate images capable of evoking human emotions, just like DNA in that a tiny piece of information can yield something so amazing and complex. 

Soon I was creating over 20,000 images per day, examining each image for a split second. This was visually overwhelming  and mentally exhausting, but I'm convinced it developed a certain part of my brain, much like exercise does for muscle. During this period I realised that years of working with subdued ceramic palettes had desensitised me to colours. Recognising this, I began educating myself in colour, coincidentally inspired by a lenticular postcard on my wall, leading me to explore lenticulars for colour relationships.

 

Lawrie Hutcheon, 'Opal Field', £2,850.00, TAG Fine Arts

Lenticular artworks are difficult to make, as they involve bringing together tiny, nearly invisible half-millimetre-wide lenses, which, if looked at closely, are almost imperceptible to the naked eye. The challenge lies in aligning each lens precisely with the ink behind it, requiring an accuracy of about a 20th of a millimetre. Calibrating everything to compensate for temperature and humidity changes throughout the day was the problem.

The process was lengthy and complex, but I was determined to master it because I felt it was an exciting and innovative way to explore colour relationships. I find playing with colour combinations challenging, rewarding, and at times addictive. It's like playing three-dimensional chess - you have to consider how the relationship between one colour and another colour changes as you walk around the piece.

I'm inspired by the world around me- I rarely look at something without it provoking a feeling or thought. The fact that we exist on this tiny rock is a miracle! [...] when I work late I can often see both an amazing sunset and sunrise over the sea on the same day. They can be dreamy hazes of gentle graduations or vivid, punchy, wild skies and crimson tipped clouds and orange lit wave crests. Undoubtedly, I think these scenes have influenced both my practice and my colour palettes. Even the temperature, weather or environment can turn my mind to colour. Recently, in a cold snowy snap, I found myself wistfully thinking of umbers, coral oranges, and hues to warm me up. In summer, i often think of turquoise, aquamarines, and red berry colours.

Is there any particular feeling you want people to take away from your work?

I have always loved the feeling of seeing something I don't understand. It's a momentary shift out of my reality and puts me in a special place for a few moments [...] when I see people looking at my work I hope that they too perhaps get a momentary nudge out of their reality - it gives me joy to think they might. People can take many things from my work, but I know many can find it calming, stimulating, or sense provoking. Colour is powerful catalyst for memory, emotions and thoughts. If people take away a memory of a feeling, either of that moment they saw my work or of a moment it has helped them remember, I'm happy.

Discover more from Lawrie Hutcheon here, and visit our TAG Fine Arts Stand F1 at Affordable Art Fair - Battersea Spring 2024 from 6 - 10 March.

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