Landscape Rising (Part ¾)
JOBY HICKEY
Continuing with our mini series of short artists’ introductions and their work in our current show, we will today turn to Joby Hickey.
Hickey is a
photographer and painter living and working in Dublin. He studied fine art at
Dun Laoghaire School of Art & Design. He later trained in film, and
eventually developed a personal style of photography, experimenting with past
techniques often building his own cameras and equipment. Skilled with the use
of form, shape and monochromatic colour, his work is deceptively timeless. He
has evolved a trademark style of vignette imagery where silhouetted figures
often roam. His art has been exhibited in galleries in Ireland, London, Paris
and Berlin.
Joby Hickey, Pearse House, Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper, 105 x 104 cm
The combination of imagery, apparently casual in its
observation, the use of surface to obtain a paint-like surface, contre jour
treatment of objects in an Impressionistic manner and the technique, the very
ancient technique of pinhole images, provide the basis of Joby Hickey’s art as
a photographer.
“My approach to image capture on hand made film, with fixed lens and pinhole cameras involves a lot intensive work to control the light, composition and complex timing calculations to achieve successful outcomes. In many cases the process could involve multiple attempts to find the balance I am looking for in the photograph. I am interested in the concept of drawing with light onto a chemical surface that involves the rendering of 3 dimensional forms onto a flat surface. Similar to the process of painting, photography for me is an experiment of capturing the atmosphere of my environment through the alchemy of light, chemicals and form.”
Joby Hickey, Moon, Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper, 69 x 69 cm
For the Solomon
Fine Art show Hickey has included six new works: “Moon”, 2016; “Pearse House”,
2016; “Under 23rd St.”, 2015; “East LA”, 2016; “San Fernando Valley”, 2016;
“Figure and Four Courts”, 2015.
All are accessible everyday scenes captured
through an analogue chemical process, with the film and in some cases the
cameras manufactured by himself. His idiosyncratic approach references early
production methods, past photographers and cinematographers giving us images
that play with perceptions of time.
Joby Hickey, East L.A., Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper, 69 x 65 cm
Asked what subjects drive or provide the underlying themes of his work Hickey responded:
“The interest I have in the navigation of time, has informed a number of themes running concurrently in my work. The intersection of these themes are probably most evident in the series I have selected for this show. The Los Angeles series of photographs, taken in the San Fernando Valley area of LA this year, are street portraits of a post industrial landscape reformed into a service industry driven by car culture. A nostalgia for the American dream and the contrasts of social conditions that exist in Los Angeles become the backdrop of the cityscape portraits.”…“The moon portrait in the fullness of its constantly revolving phases is another expression of time, suggesting the connection to our planet through its gravitational pull. The portrait of Pearse House looks at historical time and its resonance on our contemporary idea of time lived since 1916.”
Joby Hickey’s work will be on display as part of “Landscape Rising” in Solomon Fine Art until 23rd July 2016.
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