Damion Hampton

Damion Hampton


About

Damion has exhibited paintings at the Annual National Students' Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in conjunction with the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA.) Damion has had a painting exhibited at the Christies Student exhibition, London and recently been involved in assisting performance artists. He has also been involved in public art at the Folkestone Triennial in Kent (2011). He recently graduated from the University for the Creative Arts, and plans to continue through to PhD level.

Artist Statement

In a Nutshell

My proposed project is a series of paintings that deal with idealism and the theorisation of ideas from data. Using information derived from my personal life I am interested in composing forms of shorthand on canvas, in the form of text and diagrams, exploring issues around the abstraction of data and the visual affects of such coding through the act of painting.

Introduction into Practice

Elements of the work could be considered a kind of pseudoscience, the theorisation of unanswerable questions in science. In the context of painting I am interested in two key elements: The composition of materials and the textual discursive affects in terms of diagrams, text and organising text. Together these form the semiotics of my work and have an affect on the viewer. The work can be decoded in different ways, which is unique to each viewer. The information is shorthanded but not all of it is important. Work being reproduced in this manner tricks the viewer into thinking the work is meaningful

The shorthanded information is gathered up from my own personal experiences with the world, daily interactions and general interests of mine. I record experiences in the form of note taking and voice notes.

The nature of the work is forms of consolidating information. This method of making work makes information more efficient by creating a shorthand version. I use gathered information like found objects, recomposing them onto canvas in a shorthanded version until the visual qualities are realised. I continue to paint until the act of painting takes over at which point I become much more interested in the form of the written language.

The Practice

I have started to explore the theme of the practice by constructing information into the painted surface. I am also interested in the relationship between text and materials. I start the paintings with different types of information in the form of diagrams, words and statement’s. I then compose them onto the painted surface until the act of painting takes over. I am very interested that the text is replaced by a drip of paint. As a result of recomposing short hand information and the process of reworking the painted surface the painting collapses “in metaphorical terms” to reveal new forms of information. This is a process of shifting, changing, covering up, layering and removing information gathered from my personal life until the final image is revealed. This process is my methodology in terms of construction.
As a result of this process the work produced looks like a whole load of information which can be decoded and understood, but that’s not the case.

This is a question of how semiotics operates within the painted surface.
Semiotics, in general is a term used for the study of signs and how they become meaningful. In terms of the art object and Jean Francois Leotard’s explains, these are signs/objects that exist outside of communicative language and are different from cultural objects. In contrast, Meaghan Morris argues that the art object exists on the periphery of communicative language and underpins the way we experience everyday cultural objects. I would argue that the art object has a place in both sides of the argument. My own practice exists on Morris’s periphery, still inside the communicative realm of language. My work can still be understood in terms of codification. In contrast, Keith Tyson could be considered a good example of an art object moving between the periphery of language into Leotard’s sublime and back again through Morris’s language barrier. Tyson’s work cannot always be directly read in terms of semiotics and sometimes appears abstract. Sean Scully’s work however is abstract and belongs in the sublime. Because of this abstract nature, communicative language cannot be used to explain Scully’s work, it therefore, belongs in Leotard’s sublime.

How semiotics operate within the painted surface is important to understand within my own practice and how the relationship between the signifier and the signified can be understood in terms of Leotard’s explanation of semiotics in the realm of art and the art object. The understanding of semiotics will help me to understand the relationship of my practice in terms of contemporary art practice.

In contrast, to my own practice, American artist, Jean Michel Basquiat, paintings operate in a different way. The surface is worked the until the painted image takes over so much, that the language becomes almost completely abstract and collapses in terms of semiotics, there is no direct message left to decode, Basquiat becomes less concerned with the signifier and the direct narrative in terms of linguistics. Similar to my own practice the text becomes a diagram and not just the meaning of a word. The text becomes taken over by the construction of art and the deconstruction of information. This is a question of paintings importance when constructing the painted image.

As I've explored the project I've become less interested in Basquait’s method of construction and more interested in American artist Robert Smithson and his pre-sculptural diagrammatic sketches. Smithson’s diagrammatic sketches represent thought, a process of organisation, this is shorthanded information so it can be easily decoded and constructed into a 3D art object. Smithson is also a crucial artist to study as he was dealing with similar issues, the efficiency of short handing information. In conclusion, my project proposal is an exploration of the argument between philosophers Jean Francois Leotard and Meaghan Morris involving the location of the art object in terms of linguistics and culture. This investigation will underpin the development of my practice and help me to relate and develop my work in terms of contemporary art practice.
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Work
Currently working at the Sidney Cooper Gallery in Canterbury,
gallery warden, art installation and reception operator (part time)

Freelance artist; painter, sculptor and photographer. Damion's focus is abstract expressionism, one of his specialists fields is cosmology and planetary sciences.
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Education
FUTURE EDUCATIONAL PLANS

MA., (Hons) Graphic Design

PhD Cosmology and Planetary Sciences (2015-2019) Open University

MSc., 9Hons) Cosmology and Planetary Sciences (2014 Open University

Award in Cosmology and Planetary Sciences (2013) Open University



EDUCATION

Postgraduate Award in MA Fine Art 2012
University for the Creative Arts, UK

BA., (Hons) Fine Art 2008-2011
University for the Creative Arts, UK

NCFE Level 3 in Graphic Crafts 2006-2007
BTEC Diploma in Fine Art 2006-2007



OTHER QUALIFICATIONS

2004-2006

Graphic Design
3D Design
Fine Art
Stone Carving


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Friends

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  • Jorge Ortega
  • Divine Mania
  • Oliver Perry
  • Michal Sosna

HANDS ON

Drawing

Damion Hampton
United Kingdom
Prints from $43

STRENGTH

Drawing

Damion Hampton
United Kingdom
Prints from $43

CREATION

Drawing

Damion Hampton
United Kingdom
Prints from $59

SPACE-TIME

Drawing

Damion Hampton
United Kingdom
Prints from $43

THE BEST

Drawing

Damion Hampton
United Kingdom
Prints from $43

TEXT

Drawing

Damion Hampton
United Kingdom
Prints from $43
OASIS
CONCEPTUAL WORLD
23-30
LIKE THIS SPACE
BLACK
WHY CAN'T EARTH
OAT

Collections

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STREET

5 Artworks

SKETCHES

7 Artworks

Expressionism

1 Artworks

Events & Exhibitions

Exhibitions

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

"What if Gallery" exhibition 'What's Next," group show
2012 Dartford, UK

Art of the Day (AOD) Saatchi Gallery
2011, Los Angeles, US

Green Chair Gallery, virtual exhibition
2011, UK

UCA Pop Up Gallery, group show
2011, UK

UCA Pop Up Gallery, group show
2011, UK

UCA Canterbury, group show
2011, UK

Folkestone Triennial
2011, UK

Christies Gallery student exhibitions
2007, London, UK

Mall Gallery, group show
2007, London, UK





INTERVIEWS

Creatabot (ART MAG)
2011

Guardian newspaper
2006



AWARDS
Royal Society of British Artists award
2007, London

Award given by Dover Town Mayor for excellence in Fine Art
2007. Kent
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