Sifting Through Stones

Navigating amorphous spaces between nature, abstraction, and figuration, Bristol-based artist Adam Laurence Hedley‘s ethereal paintings evoke layers of time and history. “Emerging through a fairly fluid methodology concerned with the material of paint and surface, I’ve been aiming to reach an image that feels arbitrary but resolved, and that dynamically shifts between abstract and figurative states offering multiple readings,” he says.

Hedley draws on perceptions of light, depth, space, and surface to arrange compositions that resist precise categorization. In some, the outlines of botanicals appear to emerge, while in others, an overall sense of blurriness or distortion—like that of water rippling over pebbles—allows for myriad interpretations. He alternates layers of diluted paint with dry-brushed paint, which he often uses once it has been sitting on the palette for several hours. “It suits a slow, methodical approach where images reveal, cross over, and conceal each other, eventually becoming a palimpsest of fragmented forms, spaces, history, and process,” he says.

A fascination with observations of the natural world and the patinas of time find their way into the works—”anything from historical artefacts and ancient sites to maps, lichen, roots, manuscripts, woodlands, streets, and anything in between.” See more of Hedley’s work on his website and Instagram.

Images © Adam Laurence Hedley, courtesy of the artist

Header image: Detail of Magic Shield, 2022. Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 centimeters