“One has to know the rules in order
to break them.”
John Hinchcliffe
John Hinchcliffe
Taking the
natural world, and for his printmaking the built environment, the decorative
artist John Hinchcliffe has
applied these inspirations, both representationally and abstractionally, to a variety
of artistic disciplines including textiles, ceramics, painting and printmaking.
As he says
in the preface to the book by
Simon Olding, published in conjunction with his exhibition at The
University of Surrey’s Crafts Study Centre
in 2006, “My interest in crafts and construction, together with a love
of decoration and color, have led my work into many different areas, taking me
through a series of disciplines that includes woven and printed textiles and
ceramics.”
After post
graduate studies at the London’s Royal College of Art, in his mid-twenties, Hinchcliffe
started to build an international reputation for his textiles concentrating on ‘exuberant’ wall hangings and rugs.
About which The
Telegraph Newspaper has said “This was arduous and painstaking work, but
the results were expressive, confident and forceful. They were works singing
with color, and they attracted immediate attention.”
Dissatisfied
with the laborious and time consuming nature of his textile work, in the 1980’s
Hinchcliffe teamed up with the painter and tapestry weaver Wendy Barber to take on the challenge of enlivening British
pottery with color. Combining their talents and in particular Barber’s business
acumen they were successful in expanding their studio practice into the
commercial arena of mass production.
Whilst the commercial work concentrated on domestic
utensils Hinchcliffe also worked on abstract multi-media wall-pieces that called
constructions.
“My constructions, comprised of twisting and painting
strips or clay are about containing and controlling what would otherwise be a
rather chaotic mass of abstract color,” he states on his website.
Around the same time, in the early years of this
Century, Hinchcliffe also expanded his oeuvre to include painting floral still-life’s
on paper and printmaking, making bold linocuts that capture seasons, places and
history.
About his work Hinchcliffe has remarked “The gap between conceiving an idea
and finishing it is sometimes very wide; therefore I prefer to make the initial
‘idea’ only, and the work grows and strengthens as I work and as colors suggest
themselves. In this way each piece of work becomes an experiment for the next.”
The
exhibition John Hinchcliffe
Prints is currently on show at The
Salisbury Museum until the 13th of February next year.
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