John Hawke

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John Hawke Statement of Practice Questions that currently motivate my thoughts … What kind of public spaces may exist in the public imaginary? How can these spaces be at least partially realized? Could one paint a typology of disciplinary spaces of our present built environment? Ranging from studio work to architectural urban interventions, my work creates urban spaces, with paintings that practice models of relations, and interventions that push and provoke in concrete space-- as experimental counter-responses to prevailing logics. Beginning with the collaborative platform “Orange Work ” in 2004, projects recode street spaces and remind of utopian possibilities of communality. In both painting and projects, the primary organizing conceit has been to adopt the role of construction worker and employ the florescent color orange that signals: AUTHORIZED DISRUPTION. This color (a painterly concern) orders “look here, ” “stand back, ” or “keep out. ” So to appropriate it is a form of spatial jamming. Street projects have blurred categories of public/private, sculpture/building site, stealth art/public works. They necessitate a re-negotiation of expectations by all parties-- pedestrians, landowners, police, while also suggesting an alternative arrangement with the opportunity for a public occupation of a site made manifold. The latest projects have extended the working method from architectural constructions to include signage that encodes and inscribes our street level behavior and experience. (pdf download at top right)

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