Anne Hardy

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Anne Hardy (born 1970) is a British artist best known for her large-scale photographic work of unusual interior spaces. Hardy lives and works in London and is represented by Maureen Paley, London and Bellwether Gallery, New York.

Hardy's images appear to be photographs of existing places but they are quite the opposite. They are actually carefully constructed sets, created by the artist in her studio, which she then photographs.

The subjects of Hardy's artworks are usually objects or junk which she has found in markets, DIY shops, urban skips or jumble sales. The type of objects she chooses have ranged from large antlers, brightly coloured cables, old Christmas trees, light bulbs, American basketballs, orange balloons, scientific test tubes and even butterflies. Hardy puts these everyday objects together and transforms them into unusual, almost dreamlike, environments which can be unnerving with their themes of abandonment and desolation. The fabricated scenes of Hardy's work reflect and comment on modern life in the western world, how people try to manipulate the space around them and how objects bought can too frequently be taken for granted or thrown away. [1]

Other characteristics in her work are unpainted plasterboard on the walls of the rooms and visible foam sealant. Her work Lumber (2003) for example, where a neglected room houses heaps of old Christmas trees which have been hidden from the world and left to decay. Art writer Charlotte Cotton comments, "The skill of making a photograph such as Lumber is to avoid overloading the image with obvious signs and allegory, but to maintain a sense, abeit a fabriacted one, that we are looking at an observed rather than a meticulously constructed scene. The space looks like a storeroom for unwanted Christmas trees, but the indoor environoment, the menacing shape of the mound of greenery and the thought of what might lie beneath it make for a compelling hovering between what this place might actually be and the unsettling atmosphere within it."[2]

In January 2007, Hardy gave an interview to The Guardian newspaper on the subject of her image Untitled VI (2005) :

“ It took about two months to set everything up in this picture, which was taken in December 2005. It's not a real place; it was built in my studio in Hackney, London. The whole space is structured around the position of the camera. It's put together as a photograph, rather than an installation. Sometimes I go back and reshoot things, moving something 10cm this way or that. The actual moment of taking the final photograph can almost seem - not an anticlimax, but such a tiny thing. I usually start with abandoned objects I find in the street. All the old science equipment here came from a school. I put a lot of specific things into the image, without making specific references, so people can bring different things to it. There is no single explanation. I wanted to create the feeling that there are unfamiliar systems at work here. For example, maybe it was reasonable for someone to label the sections of a basketball. I always use a similar setup for my pictures, which are taken with a medium-format camera and wide-angle lens. I try to make it look as if the light has come from within the space. In this shot, it comes from the skylight, which is intended to look like daylight, and from the red bulb, rather than anything behind the camera. I just enjoy this picture. It's always hard to choose a favourite image, but there's something about this one that surprises me more than the others. You have certain pieces as an artist that you feel push your practice on, show you new things. It surprises me that I made this one.[3] ”

Hardy's work has been published in Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by Phaidon Press and Charlotte Cotton's book The Photograph as Contemporary Art as well as magazines including Dazed & Confused, The Guardian, Photography Now, Tank (magazine) and Art Review.

In March 2007, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London exhibited in their photography gallery Anne Hardy's 2005 work Untitled IV (balloons). The V&A bought the photograph for their collection with the help of the Cecil Beaton art fund.

In June 2007, three of Hardy's works, Booth (2006), Untitled IV (balloons) (2005) and Close Range (2006), were exhibited at the 52nd International Venice Biennale art festival. The accompanying New Forest Pavilion exhibition catalogue included the image Outpost (2007) and a critical essay by John Slyce. From April 2008, Hardy will have her first USA solo exhibition in New York at Bellwether Gallery.

Contents

[edit] Key artworks

  • Cipher (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (144 x 174 cm)
  • Untitled VII (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (137 x 190 cm)
  • Outpost (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (129 x 160 cm)
  • Close Range (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (190 x 150 cm)
  • Building (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Booth (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Untitled VI (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Untitled IV (balloons) (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Untitled III (office) (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Untitled II (plants) (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Cell (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Drift (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 180 cm)
  • Swoop (2003 - 4) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Untitled I (cobwebs) (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Lumber (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
  • Small Space (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)

[edit] Education

  • 2000 MA Photography, Royal College of Art

[edit] Selected solo exhibitions

  • 2008 Bellwether Gallery, New York (Dates: 10th April - 17th May)
  • 2006 Maureen Paley, London (Dates: 21st January - 19th February)
  • 2005 ArtSway, Sway, UK (Dates: 26 February - 17 April)
  • 2004 Interior Landscapes, Quicksilver Galerie, Berlin, Germany (12 August - 25 September)
  • 2004 Laing Solo, Laing Gallery, Newcastle (17 April - 11 July)

[edit] Further reading

  • New Forest Pavilion: 52nd Venice Biennale Art Exhibition (2007) (Artsway & The Arts Institute at Bournemouth)
  • Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by T.J. Demos (Phaidon Press)
  • The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2004) by Charlotte Cotton (Thames & Hudson)
  • New Art from London(2006) by Chris Townsend (Thames and Hudson)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by T.J. Demos (Phaidon Press)
  2. ^ Page 74-75, The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2004) by Charlotte Cotton (Thames & Hudson)
  3. ^ Art section of G2 supplement The Guardian January 11, 2007)

[edit] External links