David Hancock - A Still Life @ The Whitaker

Hancock, David

Abstract

Over the past few years, Hancock has been working from still life. His highly detailed watercolour paintings attempt to make tangible the world that we physically experience and how it can be understood.

He selects objects that are loaded, either with personal significance or loaned from museum collections. For the exhibition at The Whitaker, Hancock has loaned numerous objects from the collection including earthenware, geology, and taxidermy that take a central role in his paintings. Having access the stores, rummaging through drawers and cupboards, handling objects and learning about their history, was an almost unprecedented opportunity and inspired the artist. Placing the actual items within a set constructed in the studio has allowed him to create a dynamic relationship between the cast of objects.

A number of the works draw reference to escapist works produced at the height of Victorian British colonialism, the legacy of which is still present today.

The escapist nature of Pre-Raphaelitism mirrors our own attitudes, and Hancock is keen to explore why artists of the period lost themselves in fantastic constructs of the past. How we interpret the past and the problems that are encountered through the presentation of loaded objects in the present is not just an issue for the institution, but is something Hancock is keen to unpick in his paintings.

• Exhibition Performance Type: Exhibition
• Start Date: Jul 24, 2021
• End Date: Sep 19, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jul 12, 2023
• Keywords: Still Life, Painting, Watercolour, Identity, Collections
• Related Public URLs: https://www.thewhitaker.org/whats-on-article/contemporary-art-exhibitions/david-hancock-a-still-life-exhibition/
• Additional Information: Jo Manby responds to artist and PAPER Gallery director David Hancock’s exhibition, ‘A Still Life’ at The Whitaker in Rawtenstall, Rossendale. ; ; https://www.thefourdrinier.com/david-hancock-dolls-myths-and-museum-objects