Gordon Harrison Hull’s “emotional landscapes” are now on display at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery as part of his show entitled “Department of the Interior.” The interior of Hull’s mind, that is. In these pieces, illustrations of everything from helicopters to floating eyeballs populate the page along with blotches of color and multilingual snippets of text. The effect, much like human thought pattern, is a series of fragments that ultimately congeal to create an image of holistic chaos.
“It’s a blending of worlds, cultures, colors, dreams, ideas, and marks, and the marks are all about the sense of energy, ideas, and existence,” Hull said in an interview with Interview Magazine.
Hull not only weaves English and French phrases into his ink, watercolor, and acrylic creations, he also mixes African art and culture with his upstate New York roots. His father was an African history professor, and Hull explained that when he was growing up, “my dad was always saying magic is real, spirits are real.” This influenced Hull to redefine the contemporary artist as a “Trickster figure” who harnesses “lo-fi magic” and “instances of natural magic.” Clips of poetry such as “a secret whispered into a fist and thrown” and piece titles like “Hocus Pocus Vanish” explore this philosophy of the artist as a kind of playful shaman.
Another theme of Hull’s work is his belief that “there’s no such thing as a mistake.” He told T Magazine, “I have to deal with anything that could be a mistake and I make it into something that’s positive. That’s where my head is at on a daily basis, anyway.” Despite intentional disorder, patches of blank, negative space break up clusters of activity and color. “It’s like little breathing points,” he explained. Ultimately, his work is “about proof of life, in a way. I’m making my mark.”
The artwork showcased in Hull’s “Department of Interior” is particularly interesting as it highlights the basic artistic roots that exist within all creative types. Hull is best known for co-founding the Paris-based creative group Surface to Air, or his creative direction for fashion brands such as Tory Burch, Levi’s, and Adidas.
These tableaus will be on display at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery until July 21, so head over soon!