Discover the inspiration and creative process behind Susie Hamilton's artwork. Hamilton delves into her fine art print collection, offering detailed insights into what inspired her to create this piece.
1. What inspired you to create this piece?
Both these works are based on 16/17th c. literature, ‘This island’s mine’ is spoken by Caliban in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ and ‘Pink Rider’ is part of a series of horsemen inspired by Andrew Marvell’s poems about Cromwell and the English Civil War.
Caliban is one of my solitary, discarded but resilient figures, here seen in the exotic landscape of the play. The painting is part of a series based on ‘The Tempest’ in which unnatural, artificial colours suggest a setting made strange by the magician Prospero.
‘Pink Rider’ was part of my solo show, based on Marvell’s poetry, at Ferens Art Gallery in 2003. Most of my work for this exhibition was inspired by Marvell’s pastoral poetry and even ‘Pink Rider’ seems to have escaped from its martial sources into a sensuous atmosphere where the sugar-coloured rider is soaring amongst violet clouds.
2. Does your practice respond to any specific themes?
Yes, to the turning the human towards the non-human (ghost, yeti, insect, hybrid, cyborg etc) to give it a layer of mystery, vulnerability, menace or comedy.
This is part of my larger concern with metamorphosis and with the fragile, unstable human figure represented by flowing paint that breaks boundaries or by distortion, abbreviation and exaggeration of human forms.
And it is also part of my fondness for showing a named, familiar thing morphing into an unfamiliar, unnameable, mysterious one.
3. What mediums did you use to create this work?
Both works are acrylic on canvas
4. Who are your biggest artistic influences?
Cy Twombly with his use of metamorphic mess and his literary references. Picasso and Bacon with their twisting and dislocating of human figures. Brueghel and Bosch for the combination of comedy and horror and the vastness and grandeur of their visions. Finally, Pop art’s melancholic emptiness beneath all the falseness and brightness—for example the grinning girls brandishing aerosol cans or embracing Coke bottles.
5. How do you find new inspiration?
From literature, especially literature about metamorphosis. From violent contrasts of light and dark, neon light or sunlight with contrasting darkness or shadow. From carrying a sketchbook and drawing figures on beaches, on the tube, in shops, parks, bars and restaurants.
Explore Susie Hamilton's full collection here.