Hamish Fulton
dal 13/3/2002 al 4/6/2002
Segnalato da
13/3/2002
Hamish Fulton
Tate Britain, London
This exhibition brings together new and recent work by Fulton, including two major new photographic wall works, each over nine metres across. The focus is on work of the last ten years, although there is also some earlier work, including a group of important photographic works from the late 1960s and early 1970s which have not been exhibited since that time.
Hamish Fulton (born 1946) first came to prominence in the late 1960s as one of a
number of artists world wide who were engaged in creating both a new kind of landscape
art and and exploring new forms of sculpture. A central characteristic of this development
was the artists' direct physical engagement with the landscape. In Fulton's case he made
carefully structured walks, and although he has been variously classified as a sculptor,
photographer, conceptual artist, or land artist, he prefers to characterise himself as a
'walking artist'. Since 1973 he has committed himself to the principle 'no walk, no work'.
This exhibition brings together new and recent work by Fulton, including two major new
photographic wall works, each over nine metres across. The focus is on work of the last
ten years, although there is also some earlier work, including a group of important
photographic works from the late 1960s and early 1970s which have not been exhibited
since that time.
Fulton's walks have taken him to locations as varied as Japan, the Himalayas, Spain,
India, Iceland, and Montana. They have also followed routes through parts of Britain. They
vary in length from a few hours to a number of weeks. For Fulton the physical experience
of the walk is paramount: the photographic and text works that result are not intended to
represent or recreate this experience, but can perhaps serve as a starting point for the
viewer's imaginative engagement with it.
Fulton's spare, elegant work is beautiful and evocative. While seemingly simple the works
reveal a unique, complex and single-minded practice which has evolved over the past
thirty years, independent of fashion. His work takes account of recent environmental
debates in an indirect way, without preaching, by encouraging us to reconsider our
personal relationships with nature. He differs crucially from other so-called land artists in
that he makes no work actually in the landscape, nor does he remove objects from the
landscape for display in the gallery. In keeping with contemporary thinking on low-impact
travel, Fulton aims to 'leave no trace'.
Fulton has a considerable international reputation and has exhibited widely in Europe,
America and Japan, including venues such as Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1973),
MoMA, New York (1978), Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1985, touring),
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (1990, touring), Serpentine Gallery, London
(1991) and Stadtliche Kunsthalle, Baden Baden (1992). Tate Britain's exhibition will be his
largest and most ambitious show to date.
The exhibition will take place in Tate Britain's new Linbury Galleries. The exhibition is
being curated by Ben Tufnell, Assistant Curator at Tate Britain, in close collaboration with
the artist. A fully illustrated catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition. As
well as a survey of Fulton's work by Andrew Wilson, it will include an essay on low impact
travel by the pioneering and influential British mountaineer Doug Scott, and an essay on
the environment by Bill McKibben, author of the seminal work on global warming, The End
of Nature (1989).
Open daily 10.00 - 17.40
Last admission 17.00
Main information:
020 7887 8000 (international +44 20 7887 8000)
Recorded information:
020 7887 8008 (international +44 20 7887 8008)
Tate Britain
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
Linbury Galleries, Level 1