Paintings

July 3 - 25, 2015

Hannah Beehre
 
installation - back gallery
 
Painting on velvet has a long and kitsch history. It can be tricky territory. Hannah Beehre would have acknowledged such tradition with a smile, as she set out on this pathway to something new.
The proposition: to re-create nebulae, or at the very least the illusion of deep starry space, on velvet. Her response: to use dye, acrylic and Swarovski crystals on velvet not actually black, but white.
 
installation - back gallery
 
In the most successful of these works, Eta Carinae and Carina for example, swirling galactic light is suggested in fluid waves of coloured dye. Slightly weightier areas of brushed paint with edges more defined, offer handsome counterpoint. Sometimes gold and silver leaf add shimmer in small areas where the velvet pile is excoriated to its backing. And of course, variously sized and carefully placed Swarovski crystals add further lustre and colour.
 
Eta Carinae
 
There is a directness to these works that is richly rewarding. They are both accessible yet strange. Tarantula could be straight out of the Otira Gorge: Van der Velden meets Beehre in the new millennium, lit not by the light of the moon or of the fireflies we might associate with the young Beehre (in Postcard to Dr Jacoby, 2008, for example) but beneath a sparkling crystal plane. As in the weirdly wonderful Dr Jacoby, the challenge for Hannah Beehre now is to go big.
 
Lagoon     
Tarantula
 
 
Carina
 
 
Orion M78 and Witch Head
 
 
Carina Promontory 1     
Carina Promontory 2
 
 
 

List of works

Cat's Paw     Swarovski crystal & acrylic on velvet     700 x 500mm
Antennae    Swarovski crystal, acrylic, dye & gold leaf on velvet     380 x 380mm    
Helix     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     270 x 270mm    
Dove    Swarovski crystal & acrylic on velvet     300 x 300mm    
Messier 78     Swarovski crystal, acrylic, dye & gold leaf on velvet     560 x 380mm    
Infrared Cirrus     Swarovski crystal, acrylic, dye & gold leaf on velvet     810 x 1220mm        
Cats Eye     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     280 x 215mm      
Bug     Swarovski crystal, acrylic, dye & silver leaf on velvet     560 x 380mm     
Eagle     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     1000 x 680mm    
Lagoon     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     1000 x 670mm    
Tarantula     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     1000 x 675mm          
Eta Carinae     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     810 x 1220mm          
Carina     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     810 x 1220mm          
Carina Promontory 1     Swarovski crystal & acrylic on velvet     750 x 550mm         
Carina Promontory 2     Swarovski crystal & acrylic on velvet     750 x 550mm    
Orion M78     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     830 x 550mm    
Witch Head     Swarovski crystal, acrylic & dye on velvet     830 x 550mm    

All works are from 2015