FLORENCE HUTCHINGS

Hutchings’ artistic approach is deeply rooted in capturing the poetry of everyday life, and it is evident in her unique interpretation of ordinary objects and spaces. She skilfully transforms elements from her daily surroundings, be it her plants, studio, clothing rail, or even a kitchen sideboard, into almost abstract forms that exude life and vitality. They are static objects, yet they appear as if vibrating. What remains constant from the early to current works is her curiosity, exploration and experimentation with colour, which is energising, fresh and bold. Hutchings’ self-description of her work as “playful, juicy and raw” is a fitting characterisation. She likes to overwork her canvases; this way they end up having more ambiguity, which she enjoys—one can see it from the way she tells the tale of somebody mistaking a jacket for a mermaid’s tail in one of her paintings. Rather than appearing orderly by means of the progressive accumulation of layers, forms and colours, her compositions look alive and enigmatic, like a fantastic creature. Through Hutching’s personal alchemy, paint becomes energy.

Body Clock encapsulates Hutching’s recent work for two major reasons: physicality and time. Firstly, her profound physical engagement with the canvas shines through. Physicality adds an element of excitement and complexity to her practice, and she particularly relishes the opportunity to work on larger canvases, where the entire body is involved in the creative process. Through collage, she deftly applies sizable paper surfaces directly to the canvas using her hands, forging an immediate, haptic depth that seems to push the canvas into the surrounding space. Secondly, light plays an increasingly vital role in Hutching’s artistic journey. Her new paintings reflect a heightened sensitivity to light and time variations, with some depicting daytime moments and others evoking the tranquility of night. Her studio experiences dramatic shifts in lighting, with bright daylight contrasting the deepening darkness of evenings.

Countering the misconception—call it gender prejudice—that domestic subjects fit the inclinations of female artists better than the ones of their male counterparts, Hutching makes clear that her paintings defeat gender-based biases and do not belong to any classification. It is no surprise that she loves to use the term “home” so much, when asked about the ultimate inspiration of her work. Just as the idea of home conjures one of the most deeply personal feelings one possesses, yet simultaneously a shared human experience, Hutching’s poetics of everyday life seamlessly blends the personal and the universal. She depicts her own personal spaces, intimate interiors and cherished little objects, yet she does so in a playful manner that evokes a profound understanding of everybody’s ordinary. The artist invites everyone to spot a piece of their home in her paintings and feel excited by it.