Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson’s newest solo exhibition maps out the elemental connections between earth, air and water. Painting with Sculpture: Reflections on the State of Nature unites three bodies of work, linking each through materiality and process.

Centring on ideas of landscape, the exhibition leads viewers from jungle floors dense with vegetation to celestial horizons and, finally, to the murky waters of the river Thames. Through these associations with earth, air and water, the exhibition reflects on the spiritual and theological connotations of the elements. These ideas are then linked back to the artistic process, as Hudson considers the relationships between nature, art and our mental landscapes. 

Throughout Painting with Sculpture: Reflections on the State of Nature, the materiality of each artwork is immediately prominent. As such, the exhibition takes its name from Hudson’s creative process, indicating the layered and impasto surfaces of his pieces. Behind each painting lies an almost alchemical process, which strikes a delicate balance between a traditional sculptural medium and the flat surface of a canvas. Plaster appears throughout; the material, which is able to morph from solid to liquid and back again, has always appealed to Hudson precisely because of its ability to mutate. Each series of works echoes the other. Within the jungle pieces, one can find the marbling effects present in the Thames series. Equally, as Hudson uses Dremel tools to carve into these water paintings, his horizon lines feature deliberate cuts that ultimately serve to represent the unpredictable nature of the artistic process.  

Painting with Sculpture: Reflections on the State of Nature first presents Hudson’s jungle series, which depicts dystopian landscapes that relate more to the inner workings of the artist’s mind than to any real place in nature. As such, these sculptural artworks become visual tools that allow Hudson to escape everyday life. Focusing on the thick foliage of jungle environments, these paintings visualise the vacillations of light and air and their effects on surrounding greenery. The jungle series considers the sheer abundance of nature, disregarding the presence of people to imagine a world that pre-exists or has outlived humankind. These ideas lead us skywards to Hudson’s horizon lines, which are equally unpopulated. Inspired by the artist’s solo flights over the Atlantic Ocean, these paintings reflect a similar sense of escapism. While looking out over the stratosphere, one can imagine new territories that are not earthbound.

The single horizon line that stretches across each of these artworks brings us to the idea of process. Layers of pigment become visible within this deep cut that the artist performs with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. The line can represent the horizon or pathways beneath our feet, physical scars or remnants of past traumas. From the air, we are brought back down to earth once more with Hudson’s images of the river Thames. These marbled artworks depict the geological layers of the riverbed, considering the ebb and flow of rocks and sediment as they are pulled along by the current. Using the scagliola process, a type of fine plaster that produces a marbling effect, the artist is able to suggest the flowing waters of the river. Again, these brooding currents do not only refer to the river itself but to the variations of internal landscapes. 

Ultimately, Painting with Sculpture: Reflections on the State of Nature conveys a sense of the sublime away from the intervention of humankind. These unpeopled landscapes reflect a singular focus on nature that comes from the removal of an individual sense of self. As a result, the elements of colour, texture and form can be felt more deeply. Painting with Sculpture: Reflections on the State of Nature finds itself between the sublime and the mundane by taking the ego out of the equation so that we might see more clearly.