CLOSE is delighted to present a new series of work by Magnus Hammick. Hammick’s practice centres on his aesthetic of non-representational works derived from the natural landscape. His method of overlaying a series of repetitive instructions using a process-based mechanism, conceals an underlying landscape within the work.

In First Light,  Hammick uses his daily walking practice to produce a series of photographic works. Every morning at dawn, Hammick walks the same route journeying through fields close to his home in the South Somerset countryside. Each morning he photographs the same oak tree at sunrise, hereby recording the changing seasons. For Hammick the oak tree is a living, breathing symbol of our planet and the reliability of nature to repeat its cycle.

These 12 images have been edited down from the thousands of images taken in the last year. The photographic works are displayed and then subject to a performance piece, during which Hammick uses mark-making on top of the works to take viewers on the same journey. His performance represents the Human and our impact on nature. The displayed works return the work to the realm of landscape painting where Hammick’s interests remain.

Hammick says, “My daily activity as an artist is one of repetition; taking the same journeys over and over again until they are etched in my visual memory. They are places of comfort for me.”

Alongside his artistic practice, Hammick is an entrepreneur and committed environmentalist. He continues to dedicate his life to designing products that lower our carbon emissions.