Hammer Prints
Last Saturday I took a trip out of London to see an exhibition at Firstsite Gallery in Colchester showing the work of Nigel Henderson and Eduardo Paolozzi, who collaborated to form Hammer Prints Ltd in 1954. Hammer Prints produced silk screened prints, wallpaper, ceramics and textiles. The two artists were also involved with the Independent Group at that time and went against the fashion of the 50's for the neo romantic revival of the country's rural heritage to produce strong distorted abstract expressionistic imagery. As they stated: "It is the object of Hammer Prints Ltd that an attack be made on the craft field using the silk-screen as the media to be exploited."
I was struck by the boldness of the work and the heavy application of ink. Most of the designs were black and white. They applied a lighter touch to the ceramics and some of the textiles, incorporating botanical and marine illustrations. It's really quite a contrast to the 50's style I am familiar with and they weren't commercially successful which is probably why I had never heard of their collaboration. The exhibition which is free runs until March 3rd. If you go at the weekend you'll no doubt also see a large group of emo teenagers hanging out there las they obviously have nowhere else to go in Colchester town (my sister said she saw them there a few weeks earlier too!).
I was struck by the boldness of the work and the heavy application of ink. Most of the designs were black and white. They applied a lighter touch to the ceramics and some of the textiles, incorporating botanical and marine illustrations. It's really quite a contrast to the 50's style I am familiar with and they weren't commercially successful which is probably why I had never heard of their collaboration. The exhibition which is free runs until March 3rd. If you go at the weekend you'll no doubt also see a large group of emo teenagers hanging out there las they obviously have nowhere else to go in Colchester town (my sister said she saw them there a few weeks earlier too!).
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