My new series is about to go on a run of exhibitions. Below is part of the press release for the first exhibition. You can check out all the pieces for The Visitors here, and the Visitors Prologue here.
Derby based artist & designer Martin Hyde unveils his major new series of artwork, The Visitors, in an exhibition at the Royal Derby Hospital. The exhibition is open to the public Monday 28th March – Friday 29th July 2011, and is located on level 5 near the hospital restaurant. The exhibition features 8 brand new artworks. There are 4 large scale pieces which are on brushed aluminum. They are a fantastical series of artworks, which transform the hum drum of Derby into a fantasy landscape, where giant clockwork creatures loom at the midnight hour. The works are highly detailed and change, depending on which angle you view them due the brushed aluminum of the pieces. The aluminum also creates a relationship with the robotic forms in the work. The 4 large pieces are accompanied by a number of smaller framed pieces produced as metallic C-type prints, giving the work another surface texture. These piece act as a prologue to the aluminum pieces – they are an artists impression of the world the robots came from.
Martin has had two previous exhibitions at the Royal Derby Hospital, both of which have been extremely well received. Martin’s Hair Days series was exhibited there in 2008. In 2009 he donated 8 pieces of work from his highly successful Dead Good Kids series to a permanent exhibition in the Derbyshire Children’s Hospital. Martin’s Dead Good Kids also have a second permanent exhibition at the newly refurbished Greyhound public house on Friargate, Derby.
As well as being an artist, Martin is a highly qualified designer and illustrator. He has a successful design practice, Design and i. Martin received an MA with Distinction in Multimedia Design in 2004, and was a finalist in the Europrix Young Designer of the Year Award 2004 with his Masters project. He is currently in the running for several major art competitions, including the Saatchi Gallery’s Showdown, and the prestigious Association of Illustrators Images 35 award. Martin’s work will be featured in the AOI Images 35 book later this year, which will be available in all good book shops.
AIR is a scheme run by Derby Hospitals Foundation Trust, and aims to improve wellbeing through arts. It has recently been evaluated in a study run by the University of Nottingham, and proven to be a valuable opportunity for patients, staff and visitors to the hospitals to engage with the arts. Funding for AIR comes from the Arts Council England, Derby Hospitals Charity, and Derby Healthcare Plc.
Readers wishing to find out more about AIR should visit their website at airarts.net
Its funny really because most artists just want their work seen and often the commercial gallery side of things prevents that. Fingers crossed there will be lots more schemes like Air where there is easy access to art, but where quality control still exists. Yay.