It's such a pleasure to be showing alongside my father John, grandfather Ivon, and great grandfather Alfred, in the exhibition The Hitchens Family: A Shared Love Of Landscape. Rarely do I get the chance to show alongside them and further understand our common threads: the theme of Landscape is obvious, but the subtleties of what Landscape mean are deep and various. My father had a broad and impressive retrospective here in 2020, where his familiar earlier paintings were in conversation with more recent abstractions and explorations into sculpture. My grandfather needs no introduction, but my great grandfather, Alfred, is often overlooked. His trade of portraiture was very accomplished, as too were his grander Pre-Raphaelite style canvases, but his intimate and quiet pastel landscapes are a delight to rival Samuel Palmer.
My black concrete sculpture,a cast shadow of the midday sun falling upon an ancient and now absent rock, takes the exploration of landscape in a different direction. And my durational day drawing of shadows cast from a rock; recording celestial time, geological time and human time, firmly route my work in the tradition of landscape art.
My creative immersion in landscape has only grown as I grow older and I give thanks for such a rich source of material worthy of further explorations into what it means to be human. This exhibition in the beautiful yet under-acknowledged Southampton City Art Gallery adds to themes of current national exhibitions exploring Landscape.
Exhibition runs 12 Nov - 4th Mar 2023
Open: 10am-3pm Mon-Fri
10am-5pm Sat
Closed Sun
www.southamptoncityartgallery.com
T: 0238 083 4536
Commercial Road, Southampton, SO14 7LP