Hold Me Closer
An exhibition of artworks by Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2021 Highly Commended Artist
Thomas Hjelm
Curated by Niya Ruseva
On display at the Ashurst Emerging Artist Gallery, 10th January - 30th March 2022
Thomas Hjelm
Curated by Niya Ruseva
On display at the Ashurst Emerging Artist Gallery, 10th January - 30th March 2022
The exhibition ‘Hold Me Closer’ by Thomas Hjelm incorporates ‘the screen’ and its role in human connection and mass media. Distorted imagery, slogan-like texts and the distinct structural body of the artworks pull the viewer into the artist’s understanding of reality.
Hjelm uses a combination of modified printers, scanners and painterly techniques in the creation of his artworks. This synthesis is the perfect representation of the digital and physical worlds we occupy, balancing our existence within them. Drawing influence from the likes of Barbara Kruger, Robert Rauschenberg and Wade Guyton, Hjelm looks to manipulate these machines of mass marketing and create imagery referential to external spaces and ideologies. Translating his surroundings onto the emotively primed linen, Hjelm incorporates ‘the screen’ and questions concerning seductive communication and the aesthetic choices of mass media within physical viewership.
The ubiquitous digital communications play a key role in defining not only our perceptions of reality but of human connection. A sense of disconnected intimacy is created in Hjelm’s work, as the associated flatness which comes with the use of scanners is combated by the structural disruptions of the surface through ripping or building upon the initial imagery. The push-pull relationship between warm and cold in his colour palette creates a sense of both familiarity and dissociation for the viewer: from acidic greens, to cool blues and purples, to bright oranges and reds, bring an explosion of sensations that enrich the experience of rediscovering Hjelm’s artworks with each look.
‘Hold Me Closer’ gives an insight into Hjelm’s internal world and the physicality of his practice. Every time his pieces reveal a new image or texture, building an overwhelming feeling of restrained chaos. In his search for understanding the digital realm and humanity in the moments of isolation and crisis, Hjelm creates an explosion frozen at a different state of either build-up or decay.
Hjelm uses a combination of modified printers, scanners and painterly techniques in the creation of his artworks. This synthesis is the perfect representation of the digital and physical worlds we occupy, balancing our existence within them. Drawing influence from the likes of Barbara Kruger, Robert Rauschenberg and Wade Guyton, Hjelm looks to manipulate these machines of mass marketing and create imagery referential to external spaces and ideologies. Translating his surroundings onto the emotively primed linen, Hjelm incorporates ‘the screen’ and questions concerning seductive communication and the aesthetic choices of mass media within physical viewership.
The ubiquitous digital communications play a key role in defining not only our perceptions of reality but of human connection. A sense of disconnected intimacy is created in Hjelm’s work, as the associated flatness which comes with the use of scanners is combated by the structural disruptions of the surface through ripping or building upon the initial imagery. The push-pull relationship between warm and cold in his colour palette creates a sense of both familiarity and dissociation for the viewer: from acidic greens, to cool blues and purples, to bright oranges and reds, bring an explosion of sensations that enrich the experience of rediscovering Hjelm’s artworks with each look.
‘Hold Me Closer’ gives an insight into Hjelm’s internal world and the physicality of his practice. Every time his pieces reveal a new image or texture, building an overwhelming feeling of restrained chaos. In his search for understanding the digital realm and humanity in the moments of isolation and crisis, Hjelm creates an explosion frozen at a different state of either build-up or decay.
