ARTIST STATEMENT
EXHIBITION HISTORY
GALLERIES
MY FAVORITES


Artist Statement -



These works are a part of an ongoing body of work I started in 1995. It consists of drawings, which are labyrinths, and paintings derived from images as well as from life. The beginnings of these drawing processes do not deal directly with the image, but the breakup of the picture plane. I establish a series of gesture lines in pen; tentative glimpses translated with definite marks. This is the structure for subsequent marks. I do not allow myself (for the most part) to cross any lines or marks. In turn, initial lines act as “containers” for later lines. The result of this activity is a maze-like structure that also implies an image. I build up greater densities of marks to achieve darker values. The image I work from provides a guide to direct this activity. As the process continues the applied marks become smaller and smaller and the information brought into the drawing becomes more refined. This is a self refining process that I am continuing to push further and further with each piece.

This is actually a process that started for me in high school; doodling in notebooks. Only now I have applied this mindless activity to achieve something.

The processes for the paintings are similar in concept but more complex due to issues of color and paint quality.

My interests include mathematics and astrophysics. While I am more intuitive in my approach to constructing images than I am calculated, my interests in these fields relate to my desire to understand new ways of constructing things. Grand unification theories, particularly superstring theories, are incredibly creative ways of searching for an understanding of complicated constructs and continue to inspire me with this body of work.



Artist Exhibitions



One / Two Person Exhibitions:


• 9/8-10/14/01: "Portraits" Hunter Gallery. Newport, RI.
• 12/18/00-1/29/01: “Labyrinthian Portraits” Hudson Valley Community College. Troy, NY
• 1/5/00-2/9/00: The Main Street Gallery, Dobbs Ferry, NY
• 9/99: Albany Center Galleries, Albany, NY
• 9/99: Spencertown Academy. Spencertown. NY; 2-person show. "Paintings by John Hampshire and Jennifer Gordon".
• 7/99: Courthouse Gallery . Lake George Arts Project. 2-person show
• 2/99 Grosvenor Gallery. SUNY Cobleskill, Cobleskill, NY. With Lecture
• 3/1-3/30/98: Uncommon Grounds, Saratoga Springs. NY
• 2/27-3/27/98: SCAC Gallery, Cobleskill, NY; solo
• 10/14-11/14/97: Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA. With Lecture on 11/3/97
• 6/97-8/97: Uncommon Grounds, Albany, NY
• 6/19-7/4/94: Wesley Health Care Center, Saratoga Springs. NY; two-person

Group / Juried Exhibitions:
2/2-3/8/02: " 25th Small Works". Curated by Barbara Millstein. 80 Washington Sq. East Galleries, NYU. Juror's Award
• 2/28-3/24/01: “International Works on Paper”. Soho20 Gallery, NYC, NY Juried by Krishna Reddy.
• 6/01-7/01: “Faculty Show”. Skidmore College. Saratoga Springs, NY
• 2/7-2/28/01: “Invitational International Art Exhibition”. Period Gallery. Omaha, NE.
• 2/3-3/9/01: “Small Works Exhibition”, 80 Washington Square East Galleries, NYC. Juried by Peter Blum. Honorable mention
• 1/19-2/28/01: “Every Picture Tells a Story; Narrative Paintings”. The Main Street Gallery. Dobbs Ferry, NY 4 person show.
• 10/30-11/21/2000: “On/Off Paper”. Cloyde Snook Gallery. Adams State College. Alamosa, CO Juried by Lisa Tremper Hanover
• 7/16-8/18/00: “National 2000" Cooperstown Art Association. Juried by Jerome Witkin. Two awards received.
• 7/6-8/6/00: “RE/ Surface”. Marshall Arts Gallery. Scottsdale, AZ. Juried byJoshua Rose
• 3/17-4/14/00: Fayetteville State University. Fayetteville, NC. “Current Work: A National Competition 2000". Juried show
• 6/9-7/10/00: Summer Six Faculty Show. Skidmore College. Saratoga Springs, NY
• 3/00: Fulton St. Gallery. " Marking the Millenium", Juried Exhibition. Troy, NY
• 6/99-8/99: Summer Six Faculty Art Show: Skidmore Coll., Saratoga Spgs., NY
• 6/3-6/6/99: Skidmore College, Dana Science Center Atrium. Skidmore Alumni Reunion Art Exhibition. Saratoga Spgs.
• 5/99: The Firehouse Gallery, Bordentown, NJ. " Brian Cesario, Dallas Cheek, John Hampshire, and Erin Obrochta"
• 2/99 "Clickers," Fulton Street Gallery, Troy NY; Curated by Jed Cleary
• 12/6-12/27/98; Spencertown Academy. Spencertown. NY; Juried by Carrie Haddad. Award received
• 8/1-8/27:1998 Morningside Gallery. Latham, NY. "Eastern Juried Regional"
• 6/20-8/7: Schweinfurth Mml. Ctr., Auburn, NY; "Artists of NY". Juried by Jerome Witkin
• 5/22-Fall 98: Albany International Airport. "1998 Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region". Juried by Lela Hersh
• 5/13-6/20/98: Rathbone Gallery. Sage JCA. Albany. "Body Image". National juried show. Curated by Ken Johnson
• 2/6-4/26/98: NYS Museum, Albany. NY. "NYS Biennial Exhibition". Curated by Linda Weintraub
• 3/1-3/30/98: Spencertown Academy, Spencertown NY; 4-person show
• 12/97; Spencertown Academy, Juried show. Award received.
• 10/11-11/16/97: The Gallery at Two Depot Square, Chatham, NY. "The Men's Room"
• 6/17-7/31/97 Art Museum, SUNY, Albany. NY "Artists of the Mohawk-Hudson Region". Juried by Dan Cameron
• 5/9-6/27/97: Albany Center Galleries, Albany, NY. "Newer Artists". Curated by Harold Lohner
• 5/10-5/18/97; MFA Thesis Show. Art Museum, SUNY. Albany. NY
• 5/13-5/21/94: Senior Art Exhibition, Skidmore College. Saratoga Springs. NY
• 11/93: Wayside Inn, Greenfield Center, NY; group show
...

Artist Publications



Selected Publications / Reviews:

“Worth a Thousand Words....’The Pedantic Idiot’ by John Hampshire is just one of the works......”
2/18/2001. New York Times. pg. 16, section WE

“....’John Hampshire’s Recent Work’ fills the gallery with medium and large scale paintings made in just a two or three year period....The personality of the subject is heightened, as in a caricature, painted with an exaggerated, almost distorted sense of space and shape..........Hampshire consistently creates a surface that comes alive on its own terms. Here, the subject is of less obvious interest- a woman looking shyly.....the canvases are of greater impact. His (Hampshire’s) new sensitivity to light, his more intense palette, and his carryover of the photograph’s blurred foregrounds all make for formally strong results.”
1999. Albany Times Union Oct. "Reflections on a Varied Career" Review by William Jaeger.

“ ... His portraits are strongly composed with powerful emotion and a surreal edge...”
1999. The Independent Sept. 2. "Spencertown Academy Exhibits Works of Local Painters".

“The omnipresence of John Hampshire’sportraiture in the capital region has made it easy to trace his experimentation with style. Laura, an oil on paper work,,is an interesting example,...markings have been subdued in favor of a pointillist-television realism....which in turn evolves into something more akin to the agitation of Van Gogh. I couldn’t help but think of Chuck Close, but Hampshire’s Laura is generally more satisfying....”
1999. Metroland. Feb. 18. "Channel Surfing". Review by Stacy Lauren. Metroland. p. 21.

“...is John Hampshire, whose two strong paintings were done as a grad student at the university at Albany......”
1998. Schenectady Gazette. " 'Body Image' Juried Exhibition at Rathbone, Fulton Galleries" Review by Peggy Churchill Wright.

“ And John Hampshire ...offers a grand, cautionary tableau in ‘An Artist’s Education: Adam Luscier in My Studio’., where the subject slumps in abject enlightenment amid artist’s trappings, graphic chaos knawing at the edges of the visual field”.
1997. Metroland. July 3. "Broad Strokes" Review by Rich Kriener. p.20

“...John Hampshire’s deeply felt and powerfully rendered studio interior...”
1997. Catalogue Essay. “Mohawk-Hudson Regional” by Dan Cameron....

Artist Collections



Numerous private, corporate, museum, gallery and government collections detailed information coming soon.

Artist Favorites



Personal Favorites