i8 Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Hamish Fulton. This will be the artist’s second show at i8. The opening will be on Thursday, April 25th, from 5-7 PM / Opnun Sumardaginn fyrsta kl. 17 - 19.
Fulton's exhibition features a selection of works relating in part to two walks he made around Mýrdalsjökull glacier in southern Iceland (June 24th – July 7th, 2008 and February 28th – March 6th, 2013). The show includes wall paintings, photographs, prints, and wooden wall objects. Hamish Fulton is, by his own definition, a “walking artist” – building his work from the emotional and physical experiences produced by specific walks. Guided by a predetermined set of rules or an idea (often involving numerical relations), Fulton’s walks follow a system or "structure" while still allowing for chance and the unknown.
Repetition, a significant dynamic in Fulton’s practice, can be seen in repeat walks such as the ones he undertook in Iceland. However, although both walks in the region of Mýrdalsjökull were intended to last 14 days and 14 nights, a storm en route prompted Fulton to change the second walk to 7 days – enduring severe conditions in order to maintain this form.
Perhaps the single most important medium for Fulton is text. As he explains: “The text is here but the walks are not. A (materialised) artwork cannot re-present the experience of a walk.” Informed by Japanese Haiku (17-syllable poems in 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5), each of the concise text-works in the exhibition echo a particular walk's "structure" in the number of words and letters used.
Since 1967, Hamish Fulton (b. 1946) has made walks around Europe, The United States, Canada, South America, and Asia (summiting Mount Everest in 2009). Deeply concerned with China’s occupation of Tibet and global warming, much of his work is done as a direct response to these situations -- a recent example being, SLOWALK IN SUPPORT OF AIWEIWEI, at Tate Modern´s Turbine Hall (2011).
In collaboration with i8 Gallery, Fulton has produced a limited edition: SKYLINE / WALKING AND CAMPING FOR SEVEN NIGHTS 28 FEBRUARY – 6 MARCH 2013 MÝRDALSSANDUR ICELAND (steel and silkscreen).
For further information please contact Audur Jörundsdottir at +354 551 3666 or via email: [email protected]
Communal Walk – Reykjavík Hamish Fulton will lead a communal walk through the centre of Reykjavik on April 24th. The walk will start promptly at 12:00 pm at Lækjartorg, so participants are encouraged to come a little earlier. The walk will take one hour and is open to anyone interested in participating. For further information see i8 on facebook
