Hive Geometrix

About

Stephen Livingstone’s series ‘Hive Geometrix’ is on display at Edinburgh Honey Co. Offering a unique context to the work, against a backdrop of products that are created from the complex structures and systems the pieces explore. 

Beehives are places of mystery and magic. Even beekeepers, who over many centuries have developed an intimate, symbiotic relationship with honeybees, can never properly understand nor fully visualise the complex inner workings of their hives.

In his paintings artist, Stephen Livingstone imagines the inside of a working beehive, representing the activities of the queens, workers and drones throughout a bee year, portraying, in symbolic form, their political and social activities and often desperate efforts to survive, aided and abetted by the interventions of their human guardians. The paintings are cutaways, architectural diagrams of the interior structures of a beehive, each panel representing a particular part of the hive, the colours selected and layered in order to evoke the light and scent sensing experiences of the bees.

Stephen has prepared for the exhibition over a number of years by observing Cumbrian beekeepers at work, participating in hive inspections and honey extractions and studying how bee colonies change throughout the seasons. The vivid images he has created illustrate the impact of seasonal patterns on the ways in which honeybees work together to reproduce, collect and manage their stores of pollen and nectar and cluster over the winter months.

Stephen Livingstone is a visual artist who is based in the North East of England. His work deals with human impact upon landscapes and habitats and often involves collaboration with museums and archives, academic institutions and individuals with specialist knowledge and skills. He has developed major projects for the British Library, the National Trust, Durham University and the Museum of Art and Design in New York.