Landscaped Solitude
Alexandra Whatley ventures into the studio of local artist Adrienne Hunter and finds that some disorder helps reveal the individual.
Gestural, raw, playful, these are the words that spring to mind when looking at Adrienne Hunter’s artwork. Her studio is gently exposing her materials to me – mark makings in charcoal, traces of ink that swirl around her works and extend on the walls. Collaged materials and piles of inviting cardboard bring an industrial feel. As I walk around, I expect Adrienne to start painting at any time. It is here that I get a real feel of her process – generally I think exhibitions do well at hiding the mess and, thus, the individual. I can’t help but feel privileged every time I am allowed to enter an artist’s sacred space of creativity and this is no exception. A chestnut tree and a robin instil the vivid feeling of being in a child-like state, late summers playing hide and seek with my cousins. In the quietness of her garden we talk about her journey in art, which she describes as “a slow process”. Her interest stems from growing up around it in a Scottish family who collected art and cherished it by taking trips to galleries. “Maybe
I wasn’t ready for it earlier.”
CREDIT: Alexandra Whatley
She studied languages and worked as a lawyer for 16 years before taking a divergent path with a Fine Art Foundation Diploma course at Hastings College. In recent years she has been able to focus more on her work and lockdown provided a good opportunity for reflection and practice. Her paintings start off with real local landscapes that, through layers of collage, build up imaginary places that feel familiar. She responds to the power and playfulness of nature with mixed media. It’s suggestive of the idea of found objects as she uses the surface of cardboard within her work, something that was destined to have a different purpose, but also easily accessible. Letting the works breathe for a period of time and then coming back to them has been at the core of her process, enabling the viewers to get an emotional response as she explores her unconscious through instinctive brushworks.
CREDIT: Alexandra Whatley
The solitude of landscapes without people in them proved to be a myth during the pandemic – they provided us with a safe space for meeting up with family and friends or inner encounters – but this was when Adrienne created her works for Made and Remade at the Electro Studios Project Space. Although deprived of people in them, her paintings suggest a certain presence. William Gillies, Alberto Morocco and Anne Redpath, who was a friend of her grandmother, influenced and inspired her work, as well as the wild Scottish landscapes.
A member of Soco (South Coast Artists), the Electro Studios hosted her first solo exhibition in October this year, with 26 works focussed on nature and collage up for sale. Asked what her message for people who want to pursue art is, she says “Don’t let some idea of what an artist is put you off. Do what you want to do, it’s never too late.”
• See more of Adrienne’s work at www.instagram.com/adrienneannehunter
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