Phil Hackett Artist

Private Views by Phil Hackett

Fourteen images that question our proprioception and spatial contextual awareness.

Originally 8ft x 4ft 6in Projections.

Projected here are fourteen works of unique but recognisable scenes, displayed in a way that we rarely see, maybe have never seen, questioning our proprioception and spatial contextual awareness.

They turn the figurative view into a landscape view, disorienting our perspective; an adjusted horizon, scudding clouds and Rayleigh scattered skies force our view from looking on, to looking from below as we slowly ascertain the human form from the geological.

Composed of donated images from willing subjects, these most intimate photographs are transformed into landscapes, reminiscent of the negative space and human form studies by Gary Hume (Untitled 10 (from Sister Troop), 2009) and the forced perspectives of Jenny Saville (Plan, 2009), we are confronted with an irregular view of shape and form with recognisable contours and expanses of colourful skies, they could be an aerial view of a coastline, a holiday snap of a private cove or a ground view of a looming crevasse. The detail of the nooks and creases of the human form and the delicate folds and texture of the clothing merge into the jagged edges and stone crevices that form the junction between sea and land, earth and sky.

The simplicity of the projected image encompasses our visual range and is evocative of the grand scale works of Tacita Dean (FILM, TATE Modern, London, 2011), while the forced perspective that envelop us in the protective and protected space between a person’s legs, the warm glow of a sky at dusk, the smooth curves of an intimate place, transports you into the artists imagination redolent of Pipilotti Rist’s installation (Eyeball Massage, Hayward Gallery, London, 2011); The confusion caused by not knowing, at first glance, where you are looking or what you are looking at.

An emphasis of light and dark, positive and negative that the artist’s hand has adapted, altered, and enhanced; are all presented as equals. These are not geological shapes; they are human, they create an illusion of depth, scale, shadow and solid, exposing the secret shapes and spaces that make us, the landscape of our lives, depicted in flesh and projected as nature.