Hamish Fulton. Walking Artist

About

His drawings, sculpture diagrams, murals and photographs have led to him being considered a practitioner of Land Art. However, Fulton defines himself rather as a "walking artist." Through representations of walking itself, nature is not conceived as a subliminal "other" that exists to be conquered, nor as an anthropocentric landscape. Nature exists rather to be lived, endured and left to thrive. Fulton's journeying through wilderness points to a palpable lack in our own lives for adventure, unmediated experiences and connectedness to nature. 

Purposefully made of humble materials, such as paper, wooden rulers and photographs, the works align with his belief that the walks and their recreations should directly engage with the environment yet leave no traces upon it. In this exhibition, Fulton will present a body of work that exemplifies his ongoing commitment to art as a quiet protest against the alienation of people from the natural world. 

In 1973, after walking over 1000 miles in 47 days from Duncansby Head to Land’s End, Fulton made the decision to "only make art resulting from the experience of individual walks." Calls for political justice recur in Fulton’s work, corresponding to his commitment to individual and artistic freedom. For the past twenty years Fulton has been devising group walks with over thirty walks realized transnationally. In 2011, Fulton undertook Slowalk (in support of Ai Weiwei) a collective action realized at Tate Modern bringing together hundreds of people walking in silent unison.

The exhibition will feature two large scale vinyl works; the first refers to a guided and sherpa assisted climb of Mount Everest using bottled oxygen in 2009, the latter describing a pilgrim circuit of the Barkhor Kora and the Jokhang Temple in Tibet. These bold textual pieces attest to Fulton's passion for typography, in tandem with his ongoing commitment as a walking artist. Several watercolors will be included, evoking walking journeys from Switzerland to Bolivia. Unique black and white photographs portray journeys through the Pyrenees from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. There will also be vintage photographs that document the landscapes of England and Scotland from 1970 to 1971.
 

Born 1946 in London, United Kingdom, Hamish Fulton lives and works near Canterbury. Fulton studied at the St. Martin’s School of Art, London (1966-68) and the following year at the Royal College of Art, London. Solo exhibitions include Espaivisor, Valencia, Spain (2015 and 2008); Maureen Paley, UK; Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Brazil, and i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland (2013); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK; Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK; Hausler Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland, and Galleri Riis, Stockholm, Sweden (2012); Torri, Paris, France (2011); Rhona Hoffman, Chicago, USA (2010); Chomolungma, Häusler Contemporary, Munich, Germany (2009); Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano, Italy (2005) and the Tate Britain, London, UK (2002). Recent group exhibitions include: Ends of the Earth, MOCA, Los Angeles, USA of which also traveled to the Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (2012) and the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2011).

Selected Public Collections include: Tate Gallery, London, UK; Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; Princeton Art Gallery, Princeton, USA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA; Los Angeles County Museum, USA; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California, USA; Eastman House, Rochester, New York, USA ; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Metropolitan Museum, Tokyo, Japan; National Museum, Osaka, Japan; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Biblioteque National, Paris, France; IVAM, Valencia, Spain; Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh; British Council, London, UK; Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland; Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland; Musee de Grenoble, France; Musee St. Pierre, Lyon, France; FRAC, Rennes, France; National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík; Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria; University of Lethbridge, Canada.