Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Studio Visit w/ Vincent Hawkins: Liberating Forms


Vincent Hawkins is a painter living and working in London.
His work, seemingly playful and intuitive, rewards the attentive viewer as the aforementioned qualities give way to a painterly rigor and sophistication. The "serious play" of Klee or Matisse is brought to mind but never overshadows Hawkins' own certain personality and unique pictorial vocabulary.










 I seem to be not able to stop making work. Perhaps it comes out of the fact that it’s an activity on one's own terms, the one thing you might be able to control in life. It doesn't really matter if nobody likes what you do; it’s more the development of a "dialogue" and therein lays its success if that is what is happening, as I see it.










Vincent Hawkins in his studio in London, 2011










So what were, for me, rather image laden paintings of a couple of years ago, began to change and be more pared back, reducing.... to the point of liberating forms out of the paintings and into the world.








*Above quotes are taken from an interview with the artist on the art blog, (standard) INTERVIEW conducted in March 2011. Read the full interview here.

9 comments:

ariele @ brooklyn to west said...

These are rockin paintings! I must say, Paul, that following your blog has definitely given me more love for the abstract. I know that when I suddenly find myself thinking "ooh I want that in my house" it means I'm officially into it. Officially! So thanks Paul! Keep up your awesome enlightening.

Paul Behnke said...

Thanks Ariele! You are no slouch in the blog department either!!!
http://brooklyntowest.blogspot.com/

Ian Williams said...

It is fantastic that you got to visit Vincent's studio. He is a monster of productivity and an incredibly nice guy in all of the virtual interactions I have had with him. Great images of really great work!

Marie Louise Eriksen said...

Great stuff, have been following Hawkins' work and blogs for a while now. Thank you for these wonderful images from his studio!

Paul Behnke said...

@ Ian: I agree 100%. I felt lucky to meet Vincent and to see his work in person!

@ Marie Louise: You're welcome. Thanks for taking time to check out the blog!

Tim McFarlane said...

Great post, Paul! I really like Vincent's work and it's nice to see images of his workspace and so much of his works together.

inga said...

Vincent, yes! I have my eye on several of these ;)

Jessica Snow said...

Inspiring! Great to get a sense here of the work in process, the creative turmoil of the studio, the resultant work..

Paul Behnke said...

Thanks for visiting Jessica!