Xxijra Hii is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by New York based Halsey Hathaway. Body Surf showcases a series of works on paper, whereby the artist employs the Suminagashi method of hand marbling to create source material for his collages. Through these works he explores the nature of our experience to colour, form and material.
Hathaway’s paintings usually combine a dual aspect, which expands the traditional view of the abstract and optical, as John Yau states in his recent article on Halsey’s work:
“The variations in the surface pull viewers closer, making us aware that color and materiality (or immateriality) cannot be separated. No matter how optical a color may become, our experience of it is - to state the obvious - visceral. The skin of acrylic paint presents a different kind of visceral experience from that of the stains because it privileges the tactile.” *
This tactility speaks of emotions and feelings through a complex relationship of the physical work and our subjective perceptual experiences. Hathaway seeks to make work that is intentionally vulnerable to the relationship of changing environments, of light and space; to the fluctuating subjectivity of the viewer. Constructing a seemingly simple visual language to communicate our complex and intuitive emotions, he takes a matter of fact approach to his handling of material, with very tangible effects. The works in the exhibition push this ideal further, with the patterns emitted in the marbling oscillating between a readymade and the appearance of a gesture.
Halsey’s work reminds us of looking, embracing moments of contemplation and the points in which negative space becomes occupied, textured and full of colour
Biography
Halsey Hathaway is born in Buffalo, NY 1980 and studied at Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY 2002 and Hunter College New York, NY 2006.
Recent exhibitions of note include: "Interstice", Kristen Lorello Gallery, New York, NY | "Through Kaleidoscope Eyes", Soco Gallery, Charlotte, NC | "Tomorrow Will Still Be Ours, A Festival Of Visionary Ideas, Activism & Arts", Presented by Gavin Brown’s enterprise and The Tate Group Brushless | "Painters NYC", El Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños, Oaxaca, Mexico.
* Halsey Hathaway’s Impure Abstractions. John Yau, March 2021 for Hyperallergic
