theEYE: Hamish Fulton

theEYE: Hamish Fulton

Synopsis

Hamish Fulton describes himself as a "walking artist". For more than thirty years he has undertaken demanding walks in many parts of the world, and drawn on his experiences to create distinctive artworks using text, graphics and photographs. He aims to "leave no trace" in the landscape, and he acknowledges that his art cannot represent the experience of a walk. "What I'm interested in," he explains, "is presenting a sort of skeleton of something, and then the viewer fills in what's missing, maybe from your own experience." Although they exhibit a striking consistency in their concerns, Hamish Fulton's artworks can exist as large-scale wall paintings and as modest publications, as graphics to compete with advertising hoardings and as online animations. They are informed both by spiritual ideas and by political questions prompted by our uses of the environment and by specific issues such as land rights. Made alongside Hamish Fulton's large-scale 2002 exhibition at Tate Britain, this profile features both an extensive range of the artist's work made since 1971 and an engaging interview in which he outlines his ideas.