Henry Hussey: Betrayal
Henry Hussey: Solidarity
British textile artist Henry Hussey
works with actress Maxine Peak to inspire Reliquaries
Hussey’s work for Reliquaries is
drawn from three key inspirations from the artist’s life. His relationship with
his father, death and memory, and a growing political awareness. Within the
overall works of Reliquaries, there are two other bodies of work, The Last
Breath and Locking Horns.
Hussey describes the making of such
artworks as cathartic in that they deal directly and honestly with the
complexities of his familial relationships. Hussey found out that his
father had two families, neither of whom knew of each other, and the anger
arising from this informed his work to date. This inspired the body of
work Locking Horns.
Henry Hussey: Expulsion
Now the artist has chosen to
move on from the catalyst of this anger towards his father and the work in
Reliquaries, also addresses the concept of memory and death, and the idea of a
fractured, divided England.
Using actors to create live
performances of the work Hussey envisions and feed his inspiration. Most
notably, the performances for The Last Breath were enacted by renowned actress
Maxine Peake. The sessions with Peake allowed Hussey to capture genuine
responses to emotion through drawing, photography and audio recording, paying
careful attention to the responses of the face and body to specific emotional
intensities.
Hussey says of Peake “The pathos she
can convey is incredible. Maxine not only embodies the spirit of the work, but
working with her inspired me to develop new areas of work and inspiration. The
growing political comment in some of the works arose directly from our
partnership.”
Henry Hussey: Jerusalem
Death and memory play a large part in
Hussey’s ‘Reliquaries’ series. Rooted in the artist’s personal history, the
artworks explore the ways that memories of a person are fragmented and
composite – pieces of a life that are assembled in hindsight. Materials are
significant within everything Hussey makes but perhaps none more so than in
‘Reliquaries’, in their allusions to Victorian mourning clothing, jewellery and
domestic interior preparation by way of respect and remembrance.
The series of work Locking Horns
explores what Hussey describes as his anger toward his father. Using diary-like
sections of stitched text that leave no room for misunderstanding in tandem
with striking, sometimes quite violent images, pieces such as ‘Eclipse’ and
‘Betrayal’ are powerful and intimate slices of a relationship that speak of
power, control and usurpation.
Another series also titled
‘Reliquaries’, meanwhile, uncovers aspects of death and memory. Again rooted in
the artist’s personal history, the artworks explore the ways that memories of a
person are fragmented and composite – pieces of a life that are assembled in
hindsight.
Henry Hussey: The North
Working with a range of traditional
and contemporary processes such as embroidery and digital printing, his textile-based
artworks utilise these materials as emotionally expressive tools. Materials are
significant within everything Hussey makes but perhaps none more so than in
‘Reliquaries’, in their allusions to Victorian mourning clothing, jewellery and
domestic interior preparation by way of respect and remembrance.
Henry Hussey completed a BA (Hons) at
Chelsea College of Art, 2011, followed by an MA in Textiles at the Royal
College of Art, 2013. Hussey has exhibited in Hong Kong and nationally in the
Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition, 2014, and the Royal Academy Summer
Show, 2014. The artist is based in Surrey, UK. Henry Hussey is represented by
Coates and Scarry, curators of internationally ground-breaking shows and
exhibit at Art Context Miami and New York.
Reliquaries is presented by Coates
and Scarry at Gallery 8, 8 Duke Street St James, London, 12-30 July 2016.
Text supplied by Damson Communications
More of Henry's work can be found at his website: www.henryhussey.co.uk
Henry Hussey
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