Constance ARI

Collaborations with a photocopier - a solo exhibition of new paintings by Hobart artist David Hawley.

Developed by experimenting with unconventional processes, Zoom is David Hawley's first solo exhibition in Hobart. Whilst the final works are beautifully decorative screen-prints on plywood, the images were devised using other techniques during a lengthy period of preliminary investigation.

Each painting presents a singular image as a patterned field that has been distorted by drawing with a photocopier. The image was reduced, enlarged and moved whilst being photocopied. Auto enlarge functions in the photocopier were used to zoom select images at random. The photocopier influenced the work in ways beyond Hawley's control. This collaboration enabled a type of mechanical spontaneity to occur.

The primary function of a photocopier is to reproduce. Reproduction by reflection is an absolute element in Zoom. This is how the image grew into a patterned field. It originated as a drawing of a double-curved line and was multiplied kaleidoscopically by cutting and pasting and photocopying. Reproduction by reflection is evident in the diptych format as panels mirror each other in alternative ways. The idea of reflectivity occurs sequentially through each part of this series of work, making a continuous formal narrative.

Hawley has studied in Launceston, Melbourne and most recently completed a Master of Fine Art (research) at the University of Tasmania, School of Art in Hobart (2003). Hawley has participated in numerous exhibitions both in Tasmania and interstate. His work is represented in a variety of collections, including Artbank and The Burnie Regional Art Gallery. In 2001 he was commissioned by the University of Tasmania in Launceston to complete a series of paintings for its new humanities building and recently received a grant from Arts Tasmania to exhibit new work at Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Project Space in Melbourne.