Drawn to Dust, Paul Hazelton

About

The Anglo-Saxon word ‘Dustsceawung’ was once used to describe the viewing or contemplation of dust. This long lost English sentiment of reflecting on former civilizations and peoples in the knowledge that all things return to dust is imbedded in our collective psyche. By taking this formless material and transforming it into new semblances, Paul aims for these works to – in the figurative sense – transport the viewer to a state of liminality, a place where existence and non- existence come together.
Using a minute crosshatching of geometry, Paul’s recent drawings aim to crisscross time and space in search of interconnectivity. They seek a singularity between our present time and distant past and between where we live and originate from.
Born in Margate in 1962, Paul grew up in a pristine, somewhat claustrophobic home environment, where he was only permitted to use pencil in the sterile setting of a covered table. His fascination with dust also originated from this deprivation from these, often unappreciated, forms of matter. Paul’s continuing return to drawing is a return to his origin; a need to touch base or to be in contact with a surface, just like how dust needs to. In many of Paul’s drawings, images are gently teased from densely drawn or woven geometric matrices. These structures, which Paul also sometimes creates three- dimensionally from human hair, he uses to reveal or capture hidden patterns or proportions. In essence Paul is searching, through his work, for the ultimate quintessence, the thing that holds everything together. The relation between beings and geometry has become a metaphysical quest for Hazelton, trying to understand the human pursuit for perfection when in the face of decay.
Paul Hazelton was born in Margate in 1962. His dust sculptures and drawing works have been included in many major international exhibitions.