Anne Hardy
Encyclopedia
Anne Hardy is a British
artist best known for her large-scale photographic work of unusual interior spaces. She completed an MA in photography at the Royal College of Art
in 2000, having graduated from Cheltenham School of Art in 1993 with a degree in painting. Hardy lives and works in London and is represented by Maureen Paley
, London.
Hardy's images appear to be photographs of existing places but they are quite the opposite. They are actually carefully constructed sets, created by the artist
in her studio
, which she then photographs. The subjects of Hardy's artworks
are usually objects or junk
which she has found in markets, DIY shops, urban skips or jumble sales. The type of objects she chooses have ranged from large antlers, brightly coloured cables, old Christmas trees, light bulbs, American basketballs, orange balloons, scientific test tubes and even butterflies. Hardy puts these everyday objects together and transforms them into unusual, almost dreamlike, environments which can be unnerving with their themes of abandonment and desolation.
Other characteristics in her work are unpainted plasterboard on the walls of the rooms and visible foam sealant. Her work Lumber (2003) for example, where a neglected room houses heaps of old Christmas trees which have been hidden from the world and left to decay. Art writer Charlotte Cotton comments, "The skill of making a photograph
such as Lumber is to avoid overloading the image with obvious signs and allegory, but to maintain a sense, albeit a fabricated one, that we are looking at an observed rather than a meticulously constructed scene. The space looks like a storeroom for unwanted Christmas trees, but the indoor environoment, the menacing shape of the mound of greenery and the thought of what might lie beneath it make for a compelling hovering between what this place might actually be and the unsettling atmosphere within it."
Hardy's work has been published in Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by Phaidon Press
and Charlotte Cotton's book The Photograph as Contemporary Art as well as magazines including Dazed & Confused
, The Guardian, Photography Now, Tank (magazine) and Art Review. In January 2007, Hardy gave an interview to The Guardian
newspaper on the subject of her image Untitled VI (2005).
In March 2007, the Victoria and Albert Museum
(V&A), London exhibited Anne Hardy's 2005 work Untitled IV (balloons). The V&A bought the image for their collection with the help of the Cecil Beaton
art fund. In June 2007, three of Hardy's works, Booth (2006), Untitled IV (balloons) (2005) and Close Range (2006), were exhibited at the 52nd International Venice Biennale
art festival. The accompanying New Forest Pavilion exhibition catalogue included the image Outpost (2007) and a critical essay by John Slyce.
In April 2008, Hardy had her first USA solo exhibition in New York
at Bellwether Gallery. This was followed with Hardy's work being included in a group show at Gagosian Gallery
, New York called Untitled (Vicarious): Photographing the Constructed Object which ran from September until December 2008. Hardy's work was shown in the Helsinki Biennale which ran until January 25, 2009.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
artist best known for her large-scale photographic work of unusual interior spaces. She completed an MA in photography at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
in 2000, having graduated from Cheltenham School of Art in 1993 with a degree in painting. Hardy lives and works in London and is represented by Maureen Paley
Maureen Paley
Maureen Paley is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Bethnal Green, London, where she lives. It was founded in 1984, called Interim Art during the 1990s, and renamed Maureen Paley in 2004. She exhibited Young British Artists at an early stage...
, London.
Hardy's images appear to be photographs of existing places but they are quite the opposite. They are actually carefully constructed sets, created by the artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
in her studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
, which she then photographs. The subjects of Hardy's artworks
Work of art
A work of art, artwork, art piece, or art object is an aesthetic item or artistic creation.The term "a work of art" can apply to:*an example of fine art, such as a painting or sculpture*a fine work of architecture or landscape design...
are usually objects or junk
Scrap
Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable and other materials left over from every manner of product consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has significant monetary value...
which she has found in markets, DIY shops, urban skips or jumble sales. The type of objects she chooses have ranged from large antlers, brightly coloured cables, old Christmas trees, light bulbs, American basketballs, orange balloons, scientific test tubes and even butterflies. Hardy puts these everyday objects together and transforms them into unusual, almost dreamlike, environments which can be unnerving with their themes of abandonment and desolation.
Other characteristics in her work are unpainted plasterboard on the walls of the rooms and visible foam sealant. Her work Lumber (2003) for example, where a neglected room houses heaps of old Christmas trees which have been hidden from the world and left to decay. Art writer Charlotte Cotton comments, "The skill of making a photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
such as Lumber is to avoid overloading the image with obvious signs and allegory, but to maintain a sense, albeit a fabricated one, that we are looking at an observed rather than a meticulously constructed scene. The space looks like a storeroom for unwanted Christmas trees, but the indoor environoment, the menacing shape of the mound of greenery and the thought of what might lie beneath it make for a compelling hovering between what this place might actually be and the unsettling atmosphere within it."
Hardy's work has been published in Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by Phaidon Press
Phaidon Press
Phaidon Press is a British publisher of books on the visual arts, including art, architecture, photography, and design worldwide.As of 2009, Phaidon's headquarters are in London, UK, though they were in Oxford for many years, with offices in New York City, Paris, Berlin, Milan, and Tokyo...
and Charlotte Cotton's book The Photograph as Contemporary Art as well as magazines including Dazed & Confused
Dazed & Confused (magazine)
Dazed & Confused is a British style magazine, that was set up in 1992 and published monthly. Its founding editors were Jefferson Hack and Rankin...
, The Guardian, Photography Now, Tank (magazine) and Art Review. In January 2007, Hardy gave an interview to The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper on the subject of her image Untitled VI (2005).
In March 2007, the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
(V&A), London exhibited Anne Hardy's 2005 work Untitled IV (balloons). The V&A bought the image for their collection with the help of the Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton
Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, CBE was an English fashion and portrait photographer, diarist, painter, interior designer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre...
art fund. In June 2007, three of Hardy's works, Booth (2006), Untitled IV (balloons) (2005) and Close Range (2006), were exhibited at the 52nd International Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
art festival. The accompanying New Forest Pavilion exhibition catalogue included the image Outpost (2007) and a critical essay by John Slyce.
In April 2008, Hardy had her first USA solo exhibition in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
at Bellwether Gallery. This was followed with Hardy's work being included in a group show at Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery
Gagosian Gallery is a contemporary art gallery owned and directed by Larry Gagosian. There are currently eleven gallery spaces: three in New York; two in London; one in each of Beverly Hills, Rome, Athens, Paris, Geneva, Hong Kong and Moscow.-1980s:...
, New York called Untitled (Vicarious): Photographing the Constructed Object which ran from September until December 2008. Hardy's work was shown in the Helsinki Biennale which ran until January 25, 2009.
Key artworks
- Cipher (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (144 x 174 cm)
- Untitled VII (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (137 x 190 cm)
- Outpost (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (129 x 160 cm)
- Close Range (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (190 x 150 cm)
- Building (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Booth (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Untitled VI (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Untitled IV (balloons) (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Untitled III (office) (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Untitled II (plants) (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Cell (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Drift (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 180 cm)
- Swoop (2003 - 4) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Untitled I (cobwebs) (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Lumber (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
- Small Space (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
Selected solo exhibitions
- 2009 Maureen Paley, London (Dates: 9 October - 22 November)
- 2008 Bellwether Gallery, New York (Dates: 10 April - 17 May)
- 2006 Maureen Paley, London (Dates: 21 January - 19 February)
- 2005 ArtSway, Sway, UK (Dates: 26 February - 17 April)
- 2004 Interior Landscapes, Quicksilver Galerie, Berlin, Germany (12 August - 25 September)
- 2004 Laing Solo, Laing Gallery, Newcastle (17 April - 11 July)
Further reading
- Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art: Barbican Art Exhibition (2008) by Francesco Manacorda, Lydia Yee and Tom McCarthy (Merrell)
- New Forest Pavilion: 52nd Venice Biennale Art Exhibition (2007) (Artsway & The Arts Institute at Bournemouth)
- Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by T.J. Demos (Phaidon Press)
- The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2004) by Charlotte Cotton (Thames & Hudson)
- New Art from London(2006) by Chris Townsend (Thames and Hudson)
External links
- Official site
- Interview with Anne Hardy at Frieze 2009 by The Art Newspaper.tv
- Anne Hardy at Maureen Paley gallery, London
- Anne Hardy at Bellwether Gallery, New York
- Anne Hardy at Gagosian Gallery 2008 group show, New York
- Anne Hardy's photographs at Saatchi Gallery, London
- interview with Anne Hardy from The Guardian January 2007
- Anne Hardy's page at ArtSway with comments about her 2005 exhibition from Rachel Taylor (Assistant Curator, Tate)
- Anne Hardy in the British Council's Collection
- A Selection of Anne Hardy images at SlashSeconds.org
- Anne Hardy interviewed as part of The Observers 2005 article about the 'MaxMara Art Prize For Women'
- Anne Hardy at BBC.co.uk (Southampton) preview of her ArtSway show
- Review of Anne Hardy's ArtSway show by Rosemary Shirley
- Anne Hardy featured in issue 43 of Portfolio magazine
- Anne Hardy facts at Artnet.com
- Anne Hardy's facts at ArtFacts.net
- Preview of Anne Hardy's German exhibition