Anne Hardy

Anne Hardy (born 1970) is a British artist best known for her large-scale photographic work of unusual interior spaces. She completed an MA in photography at the Royal College of Art in 2000, having graduated from Cheltenham School of Art in 1993 with a degree in painting. Hardy lives and works in London and is represented by Maureen Paley, London.

Hardy's images appear to be photographs of existing places but they are quite the opposite. They are actually carefully constructed sets, created by the artist in her studio, which she then photographs. The subjects of Hardy's artworks are usually objects or junk which she has found in markets, DIY shops, urban skips or jumble sales. The type of objects she chooses have ranged from large antlers, brightly coloured cables, old Christmas trees, light bulbs, American basketballs, orange balloons, scientific test tubes and even butterflies. Hardy puts these everyday objects together and transforms them into unusual, almost dreamlike, environments which can be unnerving with their themes of abandonment and desolation.^[1]

Other characteristics in her work are unpainted plasterboard on the walls of the rooms and visible foam sealant. Her work Lumber (2003) for example, where a neglected room houses heaps of old Christmas trees which have been hidden from the world and left to decay. Art writer Charlotte Cotton comments, "The skill of making a photograph such as Lumber is to avoid overloading the image with obvious signs and allegory, but to maintain a sense, albeit a fabricated one, that we are looking at an observed rather than a meticulously constructed scene. The space looks like a storeroom for unwanted Christmas trees, but the indoor environoment, the menacing shape of the mound of greenery and the thought of what might lie beneath it make for a compelling hovering between what this place might actually be and the unsettling atmosphere within it."^[2]

Hardy's work has been published in Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by Phaidon Press and Charlotte Cotton's book The Photograph as Contemporary Art as well as magazines including Dazed & Confused, The Guardian, Photography Now, Tank (magazine) and Art Review. In January 2007, Hardy gave an interview to The Guardian newspaper on the subject of her image Untitled VI (2005).^[3]

In March 2007, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London exhibited Anne Hardy's 2005 work Untitled IV (balloons). The V&A bought the image for their collection with the help of the Cecil Beaton art fund. In June 2007, three of Hardy's works, Booth (2006), Untitled IV (balloons) (2005) and Close Range (2006), were exhibited at the 52nd International Venice Biennale art festival. The accompanying New Forest Pavilion exhibition catalogue included the image Outpost (2007) and a critical essay by John Slyce.

In April 2008, Hardy had her first USA solo exhibition in New York at Bellwether Gallery. This was followed with Hardy's work being included in a group show at Gagosian Gallery, New York called Untitled (Vicarious): Photographing the Constructed Object which ran from September until December 2008.^[4] Hardy's work was shown in the Helsinki Biennale which ran until January 25, 2009.^[5]

Key artworks

• Cipher (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (144 x 174 cm)
• Untitled VII (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (137 x 190 cm)
• Outpost (2007) (diasec mounted c-type print) (129 x 160 cm)
• Close Range (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (190 x 150 cm)
• Building (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Booth (2006) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Untitled VI (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Untitled IV (balloons) (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Untitled III (office) (2005) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Untitled II (plants) (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Cell (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Drift (2004) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 180 cm)
• Swoop (2003 - 4) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Untitled I (cobwebs) (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Lumber (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)
• Small Space (2003) (diasec mounted c-type print) (120 x 150 cm)

Education

• 2000 MA Photography, Royal College of Art
• 1993 BA Painting, Cheltenham School Of Art

Selected solo exhibitions

• 2009 Maureen Paley, London (Dates: 9 October - 22 November)
• 2008 Bellwether Gallery, New York (Dates: 10 April - 17 May)
• 2006 Maureen Paley, London (Dates: 21 January - 19 February)
• 2005 ArtSway, Sway, UK (Dates: 26 February - 17 April)
• 2004 Interior Landscapes, Quicksilver Galerie, Berlin, Germany (12 August - 25 September)
• 2004 Laing Solo, Laing Gallery, Newcastle (17 April - 11 July)

Further reading

• Martian Museum of Terrestrial Art: Barbican Art Exhibition (2008) by Francesco Manacorda, Lydia Yee and Tom McCarthy (Merrell)
• New Forest Pavilion: 52nd Venice Biennale Art Exhibition (2007) (Artsway & The Arts Institute at Bournemouth)
• Vitamin PH: New Perspectives in Photography (2006) by T.J. Demos (Phaidon Press)
• The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2004) by Charlotte Cotton (Thames & Hudson)
• New Art from London(2006) by Chris Townsend (Thames and Hudson)

References

External links

• Official site
• Interview with Anne Hardy at Frieze 2009 by The Art Newspaper.tv
• Anne Hardy at Maureen Paley gallery, London
• Anne Hardy at Bellwether Gallery, New York
• Anne Hardy at Gagosian Gallery 2008 group show, New York
• Anne Hardy's photographs at Saatchi Gallery, London
• interview with Anne Hardy from The Guardian January 2007
• Anne Hardy's page at ArtSway with comments about her 2005 exhibition from Rachel Taylor (Assistant Curator, Tate)
• Anne Hardy in the British Council's Collection
• A Selection of Anne Hardy images at SlashSeconds.org
• Anne Hardy interviewed as part of The Observer's 2005 article about the 'MaxMara Art Prize For Women'
• Anne Hardy at BBC.co.uk (Southampton) preview of her ArtSway show
• Review of Anne Hardy's ArtSway show by Rosemary Shirley
• Anne Hardy featured in issue 43 of Portfolio magazine
• Anne Hardy facts at Artnet.com
• Anne Hardy's facts at ArtFacts.net
• Preview of Anne Hardy's German exhibition