Artist and photographer Keith Hammond’s first solo exhibition at the Highgate Gallery in London takes a radical departure to nature photography.

Entitled Organic Origins, the exhibition showcases 14 of Hammond’s landscape works.  Mostly taken in north London’s open spaces, including Hampstead Heath and Waterlow Park close to the gallery, each has a different theme, from Japanese Maple (2014) to Water Iris Shoots (2015), Frost on Leaf and Grass (2015) and Arching Beech (2016).

In these large-scale works, Hammond’s intention is to explore the way we look at nature.  Rather than use a single shot composed in the picturesque tradition, he takes a radical approach, using a grid system that investigates each landscape from multiple viewpoints.  Hammond then incorporates these smaller images and details into each finished image, making works that are more than the sum of their parts, and which reward repeated viewing.

The artworks in Organic Origins also invite comparison with other artists such as Gilbert and George and David Hockney, whose workshops he has attended. Hammond’s use of “joiners” (the photographic term for smaller images that combine to compose a larger picture) itself questions the act of perception, inviting a re-evaluation of photographic truth and the single “decisive moment”. Instead, his artworks respond to the way the eye actually works in nature: sometimes near, sometimes far, always restless.

“We don’t look at a beautiful tree or a landscape for just a split second. We take our time, our eyes wander all over the scene, we take it all in; the leaves shake in the wind, the waters ripple, the clouds move, the light changes. Nothing is static.”  Keith Hammond, 2019

Hammond also works on his images post-production.  Several of the landscapes in Organic Origins have been digitally manipulated to bring out details that are unattainable within the normal colour spectrum.  The intention is to gain a wider harmony in the image – and express a wider truth about the relationship between the viewer and the natural world.

“I want to connect with something essential about the natural world; something that is palpably already there if we just take the time to look.” Keith Hammond, 2019.

“I have had a passion for trees since I was a small girl.  If you’re similarly attracted to their changing colours and shapes, please spend time at Keith Hammond’s exhibition at the Highgate Gallery.  He is a remarkable photographer.”  Dame Judi Dench, 2020.

The artworks are for sale. From a series of 50 images, the 14 limited-edition works in the exhibition range from 1-2.5m in size. Prices £1,000-£4,000.

About Keith Hammond

A photographer since the 1960s, Keith Hammond has had a long career as an artist and photographer.  In 1998-99 he was invited to judge the John Kobal Portrait Award (now Taylor Wessing) exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, London.  2014 Art for Art Sake, Cork St Gallery, London.

www.keithhammond.co.uk

Highgate Gallery, 11 South Grove, London N6 6BS

open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays

Tel: 020 8340 3343          gallery@hlsi.net