My practice is driven by a lifelong interest in field observation, scientific discovery with a prominence in exploring the liquid mechanics of water. I believe it is my role to make the concerns of art relevant to society at large, a crucial means for turning thinking into doing in the world; spanning sculpture, painting, photography, film, lighting and installation. Not limited by the architectural confines of the art world, my practice engages the broader public sphere through interventions within natural landscapes and civic spaces alike, arts education, policy-making, issues of sustainability and ecocide.
From the very beginning I have maintained an explorative dedication to the analogue camera process, producing works underwater and documenting them on medium and large format cameras without the use of post production.
Since 2013 all photographic works are unique, with no editions ever to be released. The current reproducible capacity of photography is both its force and its failing, I am provoked by the notion that a painting is intrinsically more valuable than a photograph primarily because of its singular uniqueness. To counter this perception, I now only produce unique prints from each work in an attempt to challenge the ideas concerning the spiritual and economic valuation of artworks and to create an exciting tension between their individual present and relinquished, reproducible past.
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Alexander James Hamilton
Born 1967, London
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)
08-2021 – 'Drink Less' sculpture exhibition made from island cleanup plastic & aluminium interventions.
07-2020 – 'Renaciendo' site specific installation, derelict Baroque Carmelite convent dating from 1688.
05-2019 – 'Breaking the plastic habit' public art installation climate change week; Canary Wharf, London.
05-2018 – 'Visions from the shoreline' Dellasposa Gallery, London.
08-2017 – 'Death of the dream' Dellasposa Gallery, 93 Piccadilly, London.
05-2017 – 'All icons are false' D-Contemporary Gallery, London.
05-2016 – 'The illusion of oil' Ekaterinburg, Russia.
01-2015 – 'Oil + Water' IX sculptural works created & installed in the forests of Siberia.
10-2014 – 'Vanitas' Cafe Royal, London.
04-2014 – 'Rastvorennaya Pechal' Triumph Gallery, Moscow.
04-2013 – 'Intersection' London.
05-2012 – 'A beautiful announcement of death' Pertwee Anderson & Gold Gallery, London.
05-2010 – ‘Taxi’ Ann330 Gallery, Los Angeles.
04-2010 – ‘Tokyo Green’ Conningsby Gallery, London.
09-2009 – ‘Space & Time’ London.
01-2008 – ‘Working Water’ RCP Gallery, Sydney.
09-2006 – ‘Flight' The Boiler House, Shanghai.
11-2004 – ‘Shift’ 109 Building, Shibuya, Tokyo.
08-2003 – ‘No Logo’ Maison Bastille, Paris.
08-2002 – ‘The Colour Candy’ G & A Gallery, Sydney.
09-2000 – 'Flesh & Foliage' Loft 56, New York.
07-1999 – 'Liquid Mechanics' 18 installation works mapping endangered chalk streams in Kent, UK.
01-1996 – 'Defluxio' deviation plinths installed in Los Angeles floodwater causeway, USA.
12-1995 – 'Dreams walking past' guerrilla exhibition installation Fifth Avenue, New York.
02-1990 – ‘Flight’ London.
09-1987 – 'Parking For Free' guerrilla exhibition, Canal Street, New York car park across 3 levels.
02-1986 – 'Intervened' 20 underwater installation works mapping Caribbean endangered reef hotspots.
07-1985 – 'Under the surface' documenting tourisms effect offshore. National Pantheon, Dominican Republic.
GROUP SHOWS (selected)
01-2021 – 'Objects & Structures' Dark Vat artist collaboration curated by A. Tamarovskaya, Russian Academy Of Science.
05-2019 – 'Dark Vat' re-purposing a disused photographic paper factory in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.
09-2018 – 'Site Unseen' Dellasposa Gallery, London.
09-2017 – 'Contemporary Still Life' City of London Guildhall, London.
05-2017 – 'Ars Moriendi' Dellasposa Gallery, London.
02-2017 – Museum of Contemporary Art 'Vanitas' in 'Narte Morte'. The Four Domes Pavilion, Warsaw.
05-2016 - 'Still Life' Bohuslans Museum, Sweden.
04-2016 - 'Reinvigorating the still life' Konsthallen Bohuslän Museum, Sweden.
06-2015 – 'Natre Morte' Hå Gamle Prestegard Museum exhibition, Stavanger, Norway.
08-2014 – Photo Shanghai with gallerist Valérie-Anne Giscard d’Estaing of Photo 12.
12-2011 – ‘Iconoclasts’ Lloyds Club, London.
10-2011 – 'The House Of The Nobleman' Curated by Victoria Golembiovskaya, London.
06-2011 – ‘Still Even’ Pertwee Anderson & Gold Gallery, London.
10-2010 – ‘You Are Here’ Flaere Gallery, London.
PROJECTS (selected)
04-2024 – 'Designing A Circular Future' 3 day design & makers workshop collaborating with University of Valencia.
01-2024 - The Underwater Image Library for Licensing is launched, a unique back catalogue of 4 decades image making.
10-2022 – 'Waste to Wealth' one week plastic & aluminium studio based recycling workshop.
02-2022 – NFC art authentication offering uncompromising studio provenance verification.
12-2021 - Siberian winter studio relocation in order to complete unfinished works from 'Oil + Water', 2014.
05-2021 - Design & install a plastic & aluminium recycling facility, Maldives with Soneva Namoona Foundation.
07-2020 - Lighting installation & re-opening of a Baroque Carmelite convent closed for over 170 years.
07-2019 – Artist residency offered to artists Egor Pasta, Elizaveta Stefankina & Alexey Shidlovsky.
05-2019 - Keynote speaker and studio host to the Plastic Free Design Workshop, Siberia.
04-2019 – 'Dark Vat' artist residency hosting 15 artists in a disused photographic paper factory, Siberia.
01-2019 - Invited as a keynote speaker at Plastic Free Maldives Legacy Workshop.
10-2018 – 20 works donated to fund a community PET & HDPE plastic recycling facility, Maldives, July 2018.
02-2018 – Artist residency offered to glassmaker Zachery Cincotta (USA).
10-2017 – Studio relocates Baa Atol, Maldives to create a collection of installations, photograms & texts.
10-2016 – Launch of secure legacy artwork authentication through US-Copyright Office & BlockChain.
01-2016 – Three poetry recital films released from the 2015 artist residency.
07-2015 – Artist residency offered to eight UK based artists.
01-2015 – Studio relocates to the forests of Siberia to create a new body of work 'Oil + Water'.
12-2014 – Artist talk 'Deconstructing Flow Practice' Cafe Royal, London.
09-2014 – Artist residency offered to Russian painter Alex Kuznetsov.
11-2013 – Studio relocates to 'Red October' chocolate factory, Moscow to create 'Rastvorennaya Pechal'.
03-2012 – 'Tokyo Taxi' a collection of photography & texts (2002 - 2012) published by Merrell.
05-1995 – Designed, fabricated & distributed salt to fresh water solar stills to remote island nation inhabitants.
07-1986 – 9 month kayak expedition, Maldives, distributing aluminium can crushers to help stop island pollution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY (selected)
08-2023 - 'From water to the universe' cymatics & gravitational waves by Paul Carey-Kent.
04-2023 - Conversation with Bob Chaundry founder of Considering Art, recorded in April 2023.
10-2021 - In conversation with Soneva Islanders Magazine regarding science, design & sustainability.
10-2021 - Paradise Magazine explores how Makers Place turns rubbish into carbon neutral art in the Maldives.
08-2021 - In conversation with author Emma Coccioli discussing 'Fusion' and how it took 11 years to complete.
08-2021 - Paul Carey-Kent writes 'Art into action into art' for FAD.
07-2021 - Emily Bowles of Sublime Sustainable Lifestyle Magazine investigate 'Makers Place' recycling studio.
09-2020 - Journalist Jesus de Andres of Neuva Alcarria visits 'Renciendo'.
05-2019 - Art Critic Oksana Budulak talks to Roman Mineyev from Makers of Siberia about 'Dark Vat'.
04-2019 - Sobaka Magazine visit to meet the artists during the Siberian residency.
04-2019 - Sayan Arts Documentary Film I + Film II both exploring the Dark Vat artist residency.
03-2019 - Documentary film maker Elizaveta Stefankina with her interpretation of 'Dark Vat'
03-2019 - Cultura24 film while exploring the space with the artists inside the Dark Vat Studio, Siberia.
11-2018 - In discussion with VoyageLA, California.
02-2018 - Vernon Press, USA publish 'Animae' interviews collated by Emma Coccioli.
08-2017 - interview with Luxury London 'Deep Water' discover how the surface tension of water is my playground.
08-2017 - interview with ArtNet How to continue to challenge our understanding of the photographic medium.
08-2017 - text by Jessica McBride, Dellasposa Gallery the history behind artists working with flag motifs.
05-2017 - interview with ArtNet. How can water be used as a medium?.
02-2017 - artist text 'Studio as laboratory' published in issue 13 AfterNyne Magazine.
12-2016 - Atlas Obscura 'Tokyo Taxi' article by Lauren Young.
07-2016 - article 'The butterfly effect' Christie's International Magazine.
06-2016 – article 'Dancing with butterflies' by Tricia Divets of Private Air Magazine.
05-2016 - 'The great leveller' joins the Donna Spaan art collection at Calvin University. A letter from the donor.
01-2016 – 'Pure Process' a discussion with Philistine Magazine's edition Crista Leonard.
12-2015 – Russia Today TV 'Immersed In Moscow' TV documentary on preparing for ‘Rastvorennaya Pechal’.
12-2015 – 'Portrait of an artist' article by Eloise Stevens.
09-2015 – Academic paper 'Chaos In Residence' by Eloise Stephens exploring the artist residency.
08-2015 – interview FOUR Magazine's Arts Editor, Eva Luis Schwatz.
06-2015 – 'OIL + WATER' shortlisted for ‘Environmental photographer of the year 2015’ award.
02-2015 - Interview with Jeff Campagna, Smithsonian Magazine.
01-2015 - Four Magazine 'Malerisch Fotografiert' article & interview with Arts Editor, Eva-Luise Scharwz.
11-2014 – Interview with Laissez Faire Arts Editor Britt Pflüger 'Ophelia & The Chocolate Factory'.
09-2014 – 'Deutche Welle' broadcast EuroMax TV's studio visit to explore the underwater process.
08-2014 - interview with Anna Mcnay, Arts Critic for Studio International discussing Russia.
07-2014 – interview with Josh Sims from Billionaire Magazine interview with discussions of Russia.
06-2014 – article 'An Englishman in Moscow' arts correspondent, Sophie Jane Newstead for Bric Magazine.
04-2014 – arts correspondent for The Global Panorama Jess Rayner article 'Underwater Installation Art'
04-2014 – Wall Street International explore 'Rastvoyrennaya Pechal'
04-2014 – ArtDaily discuss relocating to an underground studio in Moscow to create works from within Russia.
04-2014 – Studio visit & interview with Arts Editor Dana Gorshkova of BURO 247.
03-2014 – critical text by professor Andrei Tolstoy for the exhibition 'Rastvorennaya Pechal'.
03-2014 - Royal Photographic Society, 'the first British artist in 30 years to prepare like this within Russia'.
02-2014 – Interview on Voice Of Russia Radio, London.
01-2014 – interview discussing my relocation to The Red October Studio, Russia.
11-2013 – interview with Blouin Arts, Moscow Arts Editor, Nastassia Astrasheuskaya.
10-2013 – Thames & Hudson publish 'Natre Morte' 'Vanitas' works with texts by Dr Michael Petry.
08-2013 – interview with Moscow Times, Arts & Culture Editor Garrison Golubock 'Art & Russia'.
05-2013 - interview with The Positive Arts Correspondent Hannah Tyrell discussing whats 'Behind the art'.
05-2013 - interview with Charlotte Simmonds of New Statesman 'Painting with light'.
04-2013 – Aestetica Magazine explore the exhibition 'Intersection'
03-2013 – Article by Bob Chaundry, Arts Editor of the Huffington Post.
01-2013 – 'Dead Or Alive' Gavin Lucas, Editor of Creative Review deconstructs 'Glass'.
12-2012 – Sunday Telegraph Newspaper, 'Panorama In The Arts' Section explores 'Glass'.
03-2012 – 'Tokyo Taxi' a collection of photography & texts (1988 - 2012) published by Merrell.
09-2010 – AOP Association Of Photographers IMAGE Magazine; cover article exploring 'Fusion'.
06-2010 – academic text by John Routledge 'Fusion'.
03-2010 - LA TIMES magazine publish 'Tokyo Taxi'.
08-2009 - Creative Review publish a monograph book on 'Tokyo Taxi'.
02-2009 - DIF Magazine publish 'Tokyo Taxi'.
MEDIA LINKS (selected)
10-2023 - 'From water to the universe' cymatics & gravitational waves by Paul Carey-Kent.
08-2021 - Illustrated research paper in conversation with author Emma Coccioli exploring 'Fusion'.
04-2019 - Sayan Arts Documentary Film I + Film II both exploring the Dark Vat artist residency.
03-2019 - Cultura24 meets the artists of the Dark Vat Artist Residency.
02-2017 - 'Studio as laboratory' published in issue 13 AfterNyne Magazine.
01-2016 – Artist residency film 'Shifting Parameters' released.
01-2016 – Artist residency film 'Water Light' released.
12-2015 – RTV Television Documentary 'Immersed in Moscow'.
05-2014 - BURO24 Arts Critic Dana Gorshkova visits the studio ahead of opening Rastvorennaya Pechal.
04-2014 – M24 Television interview at the vernissage of ‘Rastvorennaya Pechal’ exhibition, Moscow.
02-2014 – Interview on Voice Of Russia Radio, London.
02-2014 – PRIVET Television interview from inside the ‘Red October’ studio. Moscow.
11-2014 – Interview with Laissez Faire Arts Editor Britt Pflüger 'Ophelia & The Chocolate Factory'.
12-2012 – 'Intersection' Film I, studio, London.
CATALOGUES (selected)
- ‘Cymatic Water & Light’ catalogue
- 'Dark Vat' limited edition book
- PhotoGrams donated to fund a community-led plastic recycling facility for remote island nations
- 'Death of the dream' exhibition catalogue
- 'All icons are false' exhibition catalogue
- 'Transparency of a dream' catalogue
- 'OIL + WATER' catalogue of available works
- 'Rastvorennaya Pechal' exhibition catalogue (English & Russian text)
- 'Intersection' exhibition catalogue
- 'A beautiful announcement of death' exhibition catalogue
- 'Vanitas' exhibition catalogue